RWBY Terminatus
by Commander Indrick Boreale
Summary: Carolus Vhemias "The Venerable", is a Blood Raven Chaplain, a decorated veteran of a thousand of successful campaigns, and a master of war, but how will he adapt when thrown into the world of Remnant, a world that has had peace for several decades? And what will he drag with him into this new world?
1. Author's noteRevisions

**Well, this, I think, is long overdue.**

 **Hello, All! As you've probably noticed, very little has been posted in... forever. Some of you have noticed I've been working much more fervently on other projects, but this story was still my first, my favorite, and once, my passion. That being said, this story is not going to die, but, there is going to be some... drastic, yes, drastic, changes.**

 **I've genuinely lost interest in the direction this story was headed. That, and to be completely honest, I've forgot where it was going. So many pointless details, like the vision of the past Ruby saw from Kravas, so many things that lead nowhere, too many characters, too much going on at once.**

 **So, It's being undone.**

 **All of it.**

 **Now, like I said, this story isn't gonna be gone. Instead, I'm deleting all chapters and starting anew. Changes, as I'd said, will be... well, maybe not drastic, but the story is gonna be greatly simplified.**

* * *

 **Whats being kept:**

 **Carolus Vhemias (obviously) is going to stay, but will be under some... revisions, concerning his past.**

 **CRSD is not gone, Rogal, Silias, and Den'av will all still be there.**

 **Vargas and Aric will not be leaving, but will be undergoing much revision.**

 **Kravas Miavus will not be removed, however, he will be undergoing revision.**

 **Some elements of change seen in RWBY will stay**

 **Ruby's chaplain training will stay**

* * *

 **Now, whats being changed? Ooh boy, where to even begin... Well, here:**

 **Ruby is no longer a psyker**

 **RWBY and JNPR do not receive Astartes grade-equipment**

 **The Alpha Legion do not appear**

 **The entire Black Legion is not present, only a small element**

 **The Space Wolves only have one present Astartes.**

 **The Imperial Fists only have one Present Astartes.**

 **The Salamanders chapter does not appear outside of Dev'av.**

 **The Blood Ravens do not appear outside of Carolus and a Deathwatch Terminator.**

 **Vargas is now a 10 man Deathwatch Terminator squad.**

 **Rogal Rethel is wearing Terminator Armor.**

 **Den'av is wearing a highly customized techmarine Terminator Armor.**

 **Vargas is lead by Paladin/Sergeant Vargas, now a Knights of Terra Space Marine (homebrew (KoT) of mine)**

 **Squad Vargas is composed of 1 KoT, 1 Space Wolf, 1 Imperial Fist, 1 Dark Angel, 1 Blood Angel, 1 Ultra Marine, 1 Crimson Fist, 1 Black Templar, 1 Blood Raven, and 1 Crimson Wolf (another homebrew of mine).**

 **Beacon does not become a Fortress Monastery.**

 **Kravas is not in Ruby's mind.**

 **There is no cat.**

 **There is no STC on Remnant.**

 **Abaddon_The_Armless .exe could not be found.**

 **Kravas did not open the portal.**

 **Disregard all previous lore of RWBY Terminatus.**

 **Space Marines are not liberally used.**

 **There is no cat.**

 **Carolus's past does not haunt him.**

 **CSMs fall under Salem's banner.**

 **There are no reinforcements after Vargas, Aric, Rogal, Den'av, and Silias arrive.**

 **There is no cat.**

 **The Emperor does not interfere.**

 **Primarchs do not show up outside of TTS moments.**

 **There is no cat.**

 **Daemons of Chaos do not reinforce the forces of Chaos and the Grimm.**

 **There is no cat.**

 **Did I mention there is no cat? Okay, there is no cat.**

* * *

 **As I've said, there is no ca- I mean, this story is not done and gone, but massive revisions are underway. expect the first new chapter in the next few days.**

 **Force Commander Indrick Boreale, signing off.**


	2. The Beginning

As the sun set, signaling the end of yet another day at Beacon academy, Ozpin gazed wearily out into the distance. The Emerald Forest, his subject of visual scrutiny, stretched far and wide, only to be broken by distant mountains was his view, yet it was not what lied behind those mountains, or ever rather what was in one of them that concerned him. No, today, his subject of concern today rested upon something much closer.

In a clearing where the sun did barely shine had originated energy readings that far surpassed anything he'd ever seen in all his years. To him, it was many things, but he did not know if he could say good was one of those things. He'd already called Glynda, and Team RWBY to his office, as Glynda was doubtlessly the most skilled hunter aside from himself there, and Team RWBY, despite being newly formed, he could see much potential in. He'd already prepared a cup of coffee for each of them, and a glass of tea for Goodwitch, knowing she didn't like his fixes.

After several minutes of gazing out upon the sunset, Ozpin turned to face his newly gathered audience. The room was bathed in a warm light yet shadows danced across the room as furniture and moving mechanisms within the tower played with the sun's rays.

Redirecting his point of interest, he looked upon the young Ruby Rose. She seemed to be settling well into the position of leader, after he and Port had talked some sense into the two conflicting teammates. Her silver eyes seemed to reflect the light of the sun much like a gleaming silver blade would, giving her an almost surreal appearance. Her posture was tense, though he could not blame her, after all, being called up by the headmaster by name to his office when said girl was accepted two years early, would rarely be seen as a positive thing. Though he knew her potential and capability as a fighter, he had been wondering if by accepting her two years early, he'd done her a disservice. Surely, she was combat ready, but on the level of education, she was not. Such was already showing, though he assumed that with the Schnee's help that much would change soon enough.

Speaking of Schnees, he'd noticed the room's temperature had dropped a few degrees, but he already knew why. Weiss Schnee, the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, was calmly filing her nails as she waited for him to speak. Being raised to be a leader, it was only natural, he thought, to make her a follower. Surely, one must learn both how to lead others, and how to work with and follow others. The girl's cocky and arrogant attitude had already created conflict the first day of classes, and he sincerely hoped that such situations would not become commonplace among the team from such. Though, she'd shown she could also be compassionate and supportive in helping Ruby become a greater leader.

Then there was Blake Belladonna. He knew she was a Faunas, and he knew she was ex-White Fang too, but he decided to conveniently forget about that whenever speaking to or about her. He was still uncertain on her standing upon many things, but he knew she'd be a good match for RWBY. After all, he had to make the Schnee more tolerant somehow, and he imagined they'd be finding out about their darker friend soon enough.

Finally there was Yang Xiao Long. Easily the tallest, and most noticeable of the group, she was the loud and proud half-sister Ruby Rose. Reckless and wild, there was no denying her capability to cave a man's face in with ease, but there was easily much to improve in how she fought. Granted, the same applied for all of them, but especially for the blonde. A kind and friendly girl, if rather quick to anger, she had supported Ruby more than anyone else there, and some might have even said she was coddling her younger sister. Sighing, he nodded to Glynda, and she gestured for them all to take a seat.

Running a hand through his hair, he began to wonder how he'd start this debrief. He couldn't quite say he was sending them into a situation blind, but he didn't want to give them false knowledge either. After about thirty seconds, Ozpin set his mug down, and looked back out at the sunset before starting...

"I'd imagine you're all curious as to why you're here at this moment..." He began, resting his forearms upon the arms of his chair as he let the girls nod in affirmation. After releasing a barely audible sigh, he continued, "the reason I've called upon you four is not as dire as you, Ruby, might think. No, none of you are in trouble, but a situation has arisen that requires a... delicate, response." He stated, letting his words sink into the newly formed team. "Massive energy readings have erupted from deep within the Emerald forest, and I need a team to investigate. All the same, I'd like to know how you handle yourselves in a situation with, shall we say, unknown variables. Ms. Goodwitch will be accompanying you on this mission, and I expect you all to follow her instructions and orders to the letter, am I understood?"

He gave them a moment to let them soak up the new information, and in a few seconds, they all nodded in affirmation. However, before he could continue, Ruby had spoken up. "Umm... P-profes- I mean, Headmaster Ozpin, do we, ah... do we know the, uh, the source of these... um... these "Energy Readings?""

"An astute question, Ms Rose." He replied, "However, I cannot divulge any information that might be relevant or shed any light on the situation in this scenario, as I myself know only as much as you four do now about them. All I can do is advise extreme caution. And don't try to be a hero, either. If you're in over your heads, get out of there. Now, since you all know what must be done, there is a bullhead on pad four that's waiting to take you to the designated location. Dismissed." Ozpin finished with a lazy wave of his hand. The 5 set out, off towards the Bullhead that awaited their arrival.

However, he couldn't help but get a feeling of extreme unease. Some part of him knew that none of them would be coming back without an interesting tale to tell. Looking back out the window, he took a sip of his coffee, before deciding to rest his eyes for awhile.

* * *

 _ **Upon the Imperial world of Yggrasil III...**_

As the flames of a ruined city licked the skies and it in turn shifted from it's originally blue skies to one of blood red, the roar of battle could be heard all around. The screams of the dying, and those of the warriors still fighting merged with the roar of bolters, the growling and cackling of chain and power armaments, and the clattering of treads across the scorched earth all came together as a symphony of war. In the skies Imperial dog fighters battled the dreaded forces of chaos in a war for aerial supremacy, all guns blazing as explosions raked the skies and debris plummeted to the ground. In the streets thousands of dead littered the ground, the bodies belonging to both Chaos and the Imperium of Man. The fountains that remained standing had long since been tainted by blood spilled into them, dying their water a shade of crimson that'd imprint itself permanently in the minds of any mere mortal who was brave or foolish enough to gaze upon the scene. Towering skyscrapers burned while others had long since fallen, burying alive all unfortunate enough to stand in their way. Rubble seemed to be almost all that remained of the city, rubble and bombed out ruins. Yet in toppled towers, blood-slicked streets and body clogged gutters still fought the Imperial war machine and the dreaded forces of Chaos Undivided.

It would be yet another of many battles the Blood Ravens and their allies had fought against the Black Legion, and it wouldn't be the worst to come in their long histories against each other. Both sides knew this, and pressed further upon each other, each determined to not give an inch of ground, and fighting tooth and nail to take such from their foe. Despite the war above, in the sewers the fighting raged on, getting ever grittier as shotguns flashed in the dark, narrow corridors and screams echoed all around. Artillery from both factions roared their terrible cries as their dreaded payloads laid waste to scores of each faction, toppled and wrecked buildings, and ruined enemy armored columns. Drop pods rained from the sky, delivering their various payloads from each faction, be it Blood Ravens, Black Legionnaires, even dreadnoughts or munitions from either side.

It was beautiful, he thought. This was the Imperial war machine, undivided and unyielding against the tide of madness and depravity. A perfect orchestra of war, the struggle of life and death, order and chaos, good and evil. Under his mask he smiled as he sprinted down the streets, fire dancing all around him, scattered bones and debris smashed to bits under his heavy footfalls. Each step he took echoed a loud thump as he raced down the streets, through the alley ways and the bombed out buildings to reach his brothers. The pained moans and screams of the dying became mere background noise to him as he rapidly approached his objective, though he'd stopped dead in his tracks as he heard the clattering of treads and the growling of an engine in the street ahead of him. Judging from the noise the engine was making, he'd came to the quick realization that the tank ahead of him was a baneblade, the one the traitors had in the area. Acting fast, he used his teleportarium to teleport himself onto the roof of the store on the corner of the street. With a flash and the sound of thunder cracking out from his teleportation, the roof cracked and whined under his weight, but he was pleased to see it stand firm. Looking ahead, he quickly surveyed the area for snipers or heavy weapons teams covering the baneblade, but only found some cultists brandishing makeshift axes, swords, maces, and a few auto rifles. Grinning to himself once more under his mask, he put himself into a runner's stance along the roof. In a few seconds, the baneblade had put itself right where he wanted it.

Pushing off his forward foot, he sprinted as hard as he could before jumping off the roof. In a second, he'd dropped onto the baneblade, crushing it's main gun's barrel under his armors weight, and sweeping the area on his left flank with his storm bolter, _Deathsong._ The hellfire bolts loaded into his precious weapon raked the cultists' ranks, tearing them all to bloody ribbons and tattered viscera in a mere second as he'd loosed about eighteen bolts into his hapless enemies. Cultists on his right fired upon him with auto rifles, shotguns, and pistols, only to find their weapons of no use against the mighty Terminator armor they were faced with now. Ignoring the hapless, mutated fools, he ripped off the commander's hatch with his free hand and leveled his storm bolter on the mutant's face. Said mutant couldn't even scream before he was reduced to bloody bits, and the space marine, seizing his chance, tossed a melta charge down into the tank's engine compartment.

Swift on his feet, the marine dashed off the doomed tank and into the midst of the cultists. They all looked upon him in shock, as he was immediately upon them, _Deathsong_ blazing from his left hand and his Crozius Arcanum, _Worldsplitter_ in his right. A sweep of his bolter loosed thirteen bolts claiming three times as many lives, and slamming his mace into the ground raked the nearby traitors with a powerful explosion. Another sweep of his mace claimed another dozen or so lives, before the tank behind him was engulfed in a brilliant ball of fire, blasting out a powerful shockwave that tore those few remaining traitors to ribbons against the faces of buildings around them. The Space Marine was hardly fazed by the explosion behind him, for he had more pressing matters. Once more sprinting from the scene, not even bothering to give the beaten foes a glance, he raced towards his younger brothers' location...

It took a few seconds to arrive to the location, but he'd made it. He was treated to the scene of a brutal deadlock, of traitors hailing their position from the first and second stories of the mostly intact building ahead of them, his brothers pinned down behind the rubble shattered across the damaged and burning street from a blown out building and the burning wreck of a chimera. Running as fast as he could to the combat zone, he saw one of his brothers whom were taking cover behind a large piece of rubble slump tot he floor as his head was blown to bits by a heavy bolter. Several Khornate Berserkers had since abandoned their cover in favor of charging towards their ranks, but he intended to meet them head on. Charging into the fray past his brothers, he swung his Crozius in an upward arc, deflecting the first Berserker's chainaxe, before kicking him away and swinging his weapon around diagonally, smashing another Khornate's head to bits. Returning to the first one, whom was lunging for him, he stepped and leaned back, letting the axe swing past him before throwing himself forward, slamming the forehead of his helm into the traitor's bare face, staggering him back before bringing _Worldsplitter_ around and back down, demolishing the traitor's head and tearing his breastplate asunder. Spinning his beloved mace around with one hand, he looked ahead of him, scanning for any more oncoming melee fighters. After a brief delay, and a stray bolt from a heavy bolter grazing his right shoulder pad, he determined there were no more Berserkers to deal with at the immediate moment. Leveling _Deathsong_ with the enemy Havoc's head, he let out a short burst of rounds, most which found their mark in the traitor's head, blowing it to bloody bits. He continued this with the next few traitors as they began to redirect their fire to him. He smiled at the thought, they thought they could actually kill him! It was amusing, but he was glad he'd bought his brothers some breathing room, enough to move up along the street to better cover.

After soaking up a healthy amount of fire from las, auto, and bolt guns, he began his charge forward again, yet this time, the sound of jump packs roaring through the skies accompanied him. Firing off shots into the buildings windows, he closed the distance between himself and the traitors, as his skyward brothers crushed the ground beneath them with their fiery descents. Chainswords and bolt pistols roaring over the flames around them, they forced themselves upon the foe as they mercilessly tore the enemy asunder with their vicious and brutal assault. Once he himself had forced his way into the building via smashing through a wall, he was once again met with the hideously mutated faces of nearly two dozen cultists. Scoffing at their attempt to fight back, he lunged forward, swinging his Crozius full circle and killing them all in but a single sweep. He'd not even bothered to activate the power field on his weapons yet save for when faced with the berserkers, for he did not want to waste the weapon's usefulness on mere cannon fodder.

The battle was short-lived, once they were actually in the narrow confines of the building. Merely the case of killing the once well entrenched enemies in melee combat, which they'd found they were not equipped for. Stepping out of the building, he took a once over of the remaining forces here. The tactical squad had lost it's sergeant and three other marines to enemy fire, but was otherwise intact and battle ready, and the assault squad had lost two marines due to heavy weapons fire from inside the facility. The fighting had been intense before he'd arrived, but not as bad as it could have been, he thought. Looking down at the marines in front of him, he saw them salute him before they spoke.

"Thank you, Chaplain. We would not have survived that encounter if not for your help." said the first, to which he merely smiled and clasped his hand over the marine's shoulder.

"I merely did my duty to brothers, think nothing of it. And you know my name, Brother Kandor, use it." he replied in a deep, metallic voice.

"My apologies, Vhemias. Though I've never seen such a feat from another astartes... I see now why Master Angelos claims you to be our greatest warrior."

"I know not if I am the greatest warrior of our chapter, such a feat I'd only credit to Master Angelos, Diomedes and Jonah." He admit without missing a beat. A great Astartes he may well be, he hardly believed himself to be one of the greatest, certainly not so among the Blood Ravens.

"Of course... In any case, we've still our orders to destroy the enemy's anti-aircraft batteries. Have you been sent to aid us?"

"Yes, I have. Ready yourselves, for in an hour we make for those batteries." The chaplain stated, before walking back into the building to do some basic repairs to his armor, and do his prayers before the coming fight.

* * *

The roar of battle never did cease, not that they expected it to while they had their momentary recuperation. The night hardly provided the cover of darkness, due to all the flames and the flashing of guns overhead, but it was better than waltzing around in broad daylight. They stalked through the darkest places they could find, be it body flooded gutters, a fallen skyscraper, or through the narrow alleyways littered with bodies, and managed to reach their objective undetected. Looking over his cover behind a large piece of rubble, Chaplain Vhemias began taking mental notes on the defenders positions, their equipment, and their numbers. There were four havocs, two raptors, twelve tacticals, and he'd counted at least one hundred cultists. The only heavy weapons he could see were carried by the havocs, being three heavy bolters and a lascannon. Though this was all based on what he could see with his eyes. There was what appeared to be a small bunker, makeshift at best but it seemed to be sturdy looking. Whatever was in there, he'd just have to find out when it came out.

Signaling his forces to move up, the Blood Ravens stealthily crept across the muddy knolls in the city's ruined park, using whatever cover they could find for their approach, being large boulders, debris, muddy craters, fallen trees and the knolls themselves. The plan was simple, really. He would teleport in the middle of the camp, and start laying waste to the cultists, after a five second delay, the assault marines would ambush the Havocs and the tactical Chaos Space Marines. Meanwhile, the remnants of the tactical squad would target the assault marines from a distance and support the assault squad with the tactical marines. Vhemias could handle the cultists easily, and whatever came out of that small bunker he was sure he could handle.

It took about a minute for everyone to get into position without being noticed, but they'd managed it, and now, he was in the perfect position to spring their surprise assault. Beginning a mental countdown, he silently did his last second prayers and litanies, as he crouched down in a muddy crater. Once finished, and having evened out his twin hearts beating, he grinned devilishly, before activating his teleporting in the midst of the cultists with the crack of thunder, and swung _Worldsplitter_ around full circle, killing twenty of the hundred cultists. He heard the footfalls of the traitor space marines as they rapidly encroached his position, and began another mental countdown as he loosed another volley into the mass of cultists. After a few more swings and another short burst from _Deathsong,_ the horde had been neutralized, and the roar of jump packs filled his ears as his brothers began their assault on the traitor marines. One Raptor decided he'd try his luck at killing the venerable chaplain, but was swatted out of the sky with another burst from his boltgun. They'd caught the enemy off guard, but their advantage would not last long, and he'd already received a notification of a casualty from the assault squad.

Listening around himself, he noted rapid footfalls behind him from the bunker. Spinning about to face the new target, he was nearly surprised by the dark purple tendrils shooting out for him. Leaping back, he'd narrowly avoided the tendrils, which immediately withdrew to the owner, an ornate Chaos sorcerer with an equally ornate staff. The Sorcerer was one he'd recognized, on he'd previously fought. Readying himself, he prepared to face his worst opponent he could imagine...

 **"CAROLUS!"** The sorcerer boomed out, deafening the few remaining cultists and driving them to the earth screaming. The sorcerer charged towards the Chaplain, and so too he met the charge.

"Kravas Miavus! Your death at my hands is long overdue! Now you shall face the Emperor's wrath!" The Chaplain, Carolus Vhemias retorted, swinging his Crozius around to meet the staff head on. The ruinous powers of the tainted staff met directly with the holy power of the Crozius Arcanum, blasting both fighters back.

Kravas, being the more nimble thanks to not being in terminator armor, swiftly threw himself back at Vhemias, swinging his staff in an attempt to take the younger warrior's head off, though Carolus leaned back to avoid the blow and attempted to strike at the Sorcerer once more with _Worldsplitter_ before being intercepted and having his mace pushed away from the intended target by the back of the staff. The two continued their dance of death as all around them Chainswords roared and bolters blazed, all unknowing of the power building in the center of the park where Carolus and Kravas fought.

Carolus was giving this battle his all, but this warrior before him was unlike any other warrior he'd fought, he'd learned that much when they first fought fifty years ago. The two were locked in a stalemate, of attacking a defense that wouldn't break, and having to resort to a defensive form after. They fought tooth and nail for the other's head, ignoring the now visible changes around them. The wind howled and the rain poured, as the two warriors' fury met head on for one last time, their weapons clashing once more against each other, and so too, did an unknown god show his interest...

The resulting blast from their weapons colliding sent them both back several meters, before a glowing vortex grew in the spot their weapons had only moments before met. All began to be sucked into the vortex and spit right out in tattered pieces. Carolus was swept off his feet, and just barely managed to slam his free hand into the ground to hold onto a piece of metal that wouldn't budge. The Sorcerer Kravas Miavus had slammed his staff into the ground, and barely managed to hang on as the vortex grew bigger and stronger...

 **"CAROLUS, YOU FOOL! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!."** the sorcerer screamed over the roar of the growing vortex, his legs dangling in the air.

 **"I've done nothing, you dog! It is your False Gods that have set this wrath upon us you worm!"** The Chaplain roared over the vortex.

 **"YOU IDIOT! THIS IS NOT THE WORK OF CHAOS, AND THAT IS NOT OF THE W-** **"** The sorcerer tried to rebuke, before his staff became dislodged, and he was sucked into the vortex.

 **"DAMMIT!"** The Chaplain roared, **"IF THIS IS NOT OF THE WARP, THEN WHAT THE HELL IS-"**

The chaplain never did finish that sentence, as finally, the metal bar he so desperately clung to broke, and he too was consumed...


	3. Confrontation

He woke to the sound of a river's rushing water lapping over rocks and itself, the smell nearby flora and fauna that he did not recognize. Rising to look around himself, he noted that he was in a forest, most likely a different world if the peaceful environment didn't give it away. He sat for a moment, taking in the scene around him. He was bathed in the warm, if fragmented rays of sunlight as they shone through the trees' canopies overhead, but he already knew he was in a forest, the stars above did not match their previous positions in any way, there are animals and plants here not native to Yggrasil, and he did not hear any gunfire around him. _Yeah, definitely a different world._

Rising to his feet, he looked around him for any more clues as to where he might be, but found his mood turn sour as no such evidence presented itself to answer his question. The only thing he saw around him were trees, a big tower, trees, the river he'd already made note of, more trees, some beasts of black fur and bone plate looking armor sprinting at him, and the best of all... more tre- _Wait, beasts?_

Redirecting his attention, he saw a large horde of bipedal, wolf-looking monstrosities charging towards him. They were fast, by human standards, looked scrawny, but he knew much better than to judge a book by its cover, considering Bloodletters did not have the most impressive physical stature, yet were able to match Space Marines in terms of raw strength. Though they were much slower than bloodletters, and didn't seem capable of carrying weapons, and a quick glance showed their claws to only be about as sharp as a standard imperial guard bayonet, and their bone plates were thin, flexible... weak. Unclipped _Deathsong_ from his belt, he loosed a single round into the first beast, and watched it be blown to bits, confirming their physical weakness. With a smile under his mask, he returned their charge with _Worldsplitter_ in hand...

* * *

The 5 warriors from Beacon stopped dead in their tracks as their ears bore witness to a roar quite unlike anything they'd ever heard. It sounded like a gunshot, heavier and louder than Ruby's .50 caliber, yet it also sounded like a rocket with it's electronic hiss, the sound of thunder in a storm. It was a terrifying noise, and they had to force themselves to press onward in the face of whatever lied just beyond the knoll. Then they heard it again, this time accompanied by the sound of an explosion from within a Grimm, the sound could not be mistaken. Then if sounded off again, and again, until it was a constant roar of fury. They were uncertain, but Ruby beckoned them to move forward once more. After a few seconds of cautious approach, they found themselves at the top of the knoll, looking down upon a giant of black armor, whom in one hand brandished an ornate, gleaming silver mace as big as Ruby that shined like the stars in the skies as a blue coat of power danced across the head. In it's other hand it boasted a big, twin-barreled gun from which originated that terrible roar that they could now see so easily laid waste to entire hordes of Grimm. The front of this metal giant bore strange runes, an eagle of silver displayed across it's chest. On it's left shoulder bore a strange stone cross where the center was occupied by crossed bones and an ornate skull under which lied a banner with characters they did not recognize displayed across it, the opposite shoulder pad lacked this, instead in favor of bone white color over the usual black and what seemed to be a nevermore with a blood drop in the middle displayed. Strange runes were etched into the greaves, bracers and pauldrons and were accompanied by seals that were placed on the armor with no particular order to them. It's face was that of a human skull with blazing green eyes, which which they could only seem to relate death to.

Quickly throwing themselves to the floor on Glynda's command the five looked on as the figure stepped back and swung downwards with it's mace, crushing the poor Beowulf to a pulp in a single blow, before taking a step back forward, swinging it's mace in a wide arc. The mace whizzed through the air, slamming into the next Wulf and catching eight more mid swing, killing them all instantly. The deathly figure moved incredibly fast, so fast Ruby could hardly keep track, and swung once more his mace, claiming the lives of more and more Grimm with each swing, and each step forward brought more and more Grimm to the slaughter, throwing themselves haplessly against a foe none could even come close to scratching. With a Deep, metallic voice, the figure began to speak it's strange litanies, finally in something, a language, they could recognize, as it continued it's effortless slaughter of the wolves they'd now learned to feel bad for.

 **"Pathetic beasts, you face one of the Emperor's favored sons. You are nothing, lowly vermin equivalent to less than the gutter rats of Armageddon, weaker than the thousands of cultists I've slaughtered before you. That you dare gaze upon someone such as I offends the Emperor, and for that, you shall all die!"** Spoke the figure. It's metallic voice sent shivers down their spines and chilled them to their cores. The figure must have already killed close to three hundred Grimm, not anymore all Beowulves. It mattered not, for now dozens of Grimm met their unenviable endings every second, as the figure swung and shot his way through the ever growing horde without mercy or forgiveness. Beowulves, Ursa, Borbatusks, Creeps, and small Deathstalkers all rushed to face this figure, only to be thrown aside as a mangled remnant of what they once were, before fading away to nothingness.

For nearly an hour they watched, as this figure of black and silver made a mockery of hordes of Grimm that's sheer numbers would break any hunter team, before the horde finally began to simmer down to about a dozen rushing out of the treeline every four or five seconds. Finally, the figure, with powerful movements, swung his mace in a wide arch, a full circle, letting fly a rippling shockwave from where he stood, destroying all pathetic remnants of the once massive horde. He'd unknowingly butchered what must have been three fourths of the Grimm in the Emerald forest, and two thirds of their alphas. After a moment, to see that now no more of the measly creatures dared to show themselves, it bent down to a knee and set the head of its mace into the dirt. It looked to be praying, but they could not hear anything from it.

After taking a moment to silently discuss what they should do, Ruby had made up her mind, and stood up to look back towards the figure for it's attention, only to notice the figure looking down on her tiny frame, only now he was within arms reach...

"Uhhhh..." Ruby began, before the figure spoke once more.

 **"Greetings. You watched my battle with those measly creatures, I know, yet I feel not the need to treat you mortals as threats. We are all the sons and daughters of the Emperor, after all, and you bare no Chaotic taint."** The figure spoke, as they all began to take steps back. He halted them all with with but a wave of his hand. He used no magic, merely his intimidating presence to scare them into following what he wanted. He took a moment before turning to Glynda.

 **"You are the leader of these girls, I take it?"** He asked, yet his voice carried enough authority to show that they had no choice but to answer his questions.

"Y-yes, I am. I am Professor Goodwitch, vice headmistress of Beacon Academy. We train-"

 **"Irrelevant."** The figure interrupted, **"I care not for what you train in your academy, however, as you seem the part of warriors, I must ask what you fight for. Let us start with you, the girl in the cloak."**

"M-me?" Ruby stuttered, scared that the figure singled her out. **"Yes, girl, you. Do not make me repeat myself again, now, tell me what you fight for."** The girl in question had eyes of silver that reflected his blazing eyes so easily, had black hair that just so subtly shifted from black to a deep red at the tips, and was clad in a black and red corset along with her already mentioned red cloak that dwarfed her frame.

"W-well... I just want to help people... to help make the world a better place." Ruby said simply, to which the figure seemingly narrowed his gaze upon the girl. After a few tense seconds, the figure turned his gaze away from the small girl.

 **"You're naive, but your reason behind why you fight is noble. Tell me your name."**

"I-i'm Ruby... Ruby Rose, sir, uhhh..." She tried to address him, and failed miserably.

 **"I am not a general in some military, do not address me as 'sir.'"**

"O-oh..." She stammered, before nervously tapping her fingers together. This man was big, and scary. He'd killed more Grimm today in one hour than she thinks she's killed throughout her entire time so far as a huntress-in-training. And despite her youth, not many of her current peers two years older than her could boast half as many confirmed kills as she could. The fact that this... death machine killed more in an hour than she'd killed in years terrified her, and it was not difficult to see why.

 **"If,"** the figure spoke, after a delay of a few seconds, **"you are going to address me as a title, you shall refer to me as "mi'lord" or as "Chaplain." You've not earned the privledge of speaking my name, yet... You understand this?"**

"Y-yes si-I mean, uhh... Yes, Mi'lord..." she whimpered out before the figure. Weiss, having never been genuinely frightened like this through her entire life, snapped out of her momentary awe. Clearing her throat, she successfully caught the figure's attention.

 **"Enough. You, girl in white, why do you fight."** He spoke, once more redirecting his burning gaze. The girl in question would have been considered short if not for her heels, and her white dress and jacket he could easily tell were extremely expensive. _Rich Girl._

"I fight to prove that I am strong, to bring honor back to the name my father has dragged through the mud." Weiss spoke confidently, her head held high.

 **"Hmmm... so you fight to prove your personal strength and to reclaim your family's honor... as a Space Marine, I can respect this. Your name?"**

"Weiss Schnee. My name is Weiss Schnee. And yours, Chaplain?" Weiss dared to ask, only to be met with the Chaplain's cold glare that made even her shrink back.

 **"You shall learn my name when you finish with all of my questions, girl. Forget not your place."** The figure quickly warned the heiress. Turning to steady his gaze upon the next girl, one in black and white with a bow that rested upon her head. He'd immediately identified the cat ears underneath the bow, but decided he'd interrogate her about that later.

 **"Your reason, black?"** He growled, barely managing to hid his disgust for the mutant. Her outfit was of black and white, with amber eyes and raven hair. Physically speaking, she was the second most noticeable in the group, the professor notwithstanding.

"I fight for justice. There's too much injustice in this world, I want to help change that." She said, looking into the Chaplain's cold, calculating eyes.

 **"You fight for justice, I see... A noble path, but let it not consume you, lest you become part of the problem."** Said he, as he looked back at her bow. Quickly returning his gaze to meet her eyes, he pressed his next question.

 **"Now, something tells me I was close, naming you black. Your name?"**

"Actually, you weren't far off. Blake Belladonna." She said calmly, looking back to her shaking leader and lending a comforting hand to her shoulder. After seemingly calming the younger girl down, she returned her gaze to the figure, only to notice he'd already moved on.

 **"Your turn. Why do you fight?"** He spoke, turning to the tall girl beside her with long, blonde hair, a rather risque outfit brandishing a bright yellow and brown color scheme, and her eyes a gentle shade of lilac. Her physical features were much more noteworthy than that of the other girls, save the professor. Were he still human, he might've even had a crush on the girl.

"Well..." Yang began, "I'm not quite like Ruby... I mean, yeah, helping people is good and all but really I just wanna see the world, fight monsters... I just want a life where I don't know what tomorrow will bring, a life of adventure. Being a huntress just happens to line up with that." Yang replied nervously. The figure's gaze met her, but she stood defiant, if shaking.

 **"I see... You help when you can, but ultimately you do not care so long as life has its excitement... Be mindful, such a path is often self-destructive, and leads to little of the happiness you seek. Now, Your name?"**

"The name is Xiao Long... Yang Xiao Long." Yang dared with a grin, only to get punched by Blake in the arm.

 **"So it is... Well then, you have answered my question, I believe it to be only fair to answer yours... but not here. You have a method of aerial transportation you can call, I presume?"** The figure spoke, returning his attention to Glynda.

"Yes, we do, but I don't-" **"Then call it."** the figure said, cutting her off before she could say whatever menial, negative detail she felt the need to mention. After a look to the girls around her, she reluctantly called up the bullhead transport from her scroll. After walking back away from them so to give them some breathing room he heard the first girl, Ruby call out to him...

"Ah, M-mi'lord... you never did, ah... you never did tell us your name... Mi'lord, chaplain... Lord..." Ruby stuttered awkwardly, to which the warrior merely chuckled before setting the head of his Crozius down upon the earth. Raising his now free hand to his helmet. He pressed something, and with an audible _Click!_ and a hiss, the helmet came off, revealing a toned, angular face with sharp, handsome features and a scar running vertically down his forehead to his jawbone. His blue eyes and dark brown hair contrasted to what they thought they'd see once the mask was taken off, as he merely looked like a human with greater proportions.

"Yes," he said, his voice still deep, yet now lacking the metallic sound to it. "It would seem I did forget such a detail. You greeted me with your faces, I believe it only just to do you the same courtesy." Spoke he. Doing a small bow for theatrics sake, he spoke once more to answer their question.

"My name, Is Carolus Vhemias. I am a Space Marine, Chaplain of the Blood Ravens 2nd Company... Charmed."

* * *

The Bullhead had arrived shortly after Carolus's introduction, though it was only just barely able to take off with Carolus in tow. The Bullhead wasn't much, he'd noted. Thin armor, a curved hull and twin engines on each wing. For any normal human, the crew compartment would have been considered of a decent size, though faced with the absurd size of a space marine in terminator armor they quickly realized just how small it actually was. The sky had darkened now, revealing distant stars above to mortal eyes and bathing those in the bullhead with a gentle, pale glow.

Carolus had already clicked his helmet back into place, his burning lenses once more unnerving the girls of RWBY, and making Glynda prefer to keep as much distance from him as possible within the small confines of the bullhead's cabin. Ruby had, despite being terrified of him, been incredibly intrigued by his weapons and armor, after all, she'd never seen any weapon tear the Grimm apart so easily. Her own weapon she'd considered to be powerful, but his were just on a completely different level, bordering on what makes sense and what's just plain absurdity. Not to mention how ornate his armor was, all the intricate details, the seals, the runes... it all had to mean something, right?

"Mi'l-lord?" Ruby began, successfully catching the Marine's attention.

 **"Speak, Rose."** he replied, his voice once more sounding of metal.

"I was, ah... curious, about your weapons." Ruby meekly said, receiving a small, slow nod from the chaplain.

 **" _Deathsong_ and _Worldsplitter?_ Well, I suppose sating idle curiosity could not hurt. They are weapons, among the finest works of Artificer Jordanos. With them, I've spilled the blood of thousands of the enemies of man, be they traitors, mutants, and the foul xenos... My Crozius, _Worldsplitter_ , is my badge of office as a member of the Chaplaincy, and _Deathsong_ is a gift, a Master Crafted Storm Bolter, one of the finest of its kind. Has that sated your curiosity?"**

"Oh! T-that's so cool! What about your armor? Is there any story behind their names? OOH, does your armor have a name? Lemmeseelemmesee!" Ruby squealed, and tried to reach out to touch the weapons and/or armor. However, she was quickly pushed back by the large figure and fell on her rear...

"owie..."

 **"I will give you this advice once and only once. One does not touch an astartes, their armor or their weapons without their permission. Am I understood?"** Vhemias warned, to which the younger girl quickly nodded fervently.

"S-sorry, m-mi'lord..."

"Ruby, you dolt..." Weiss chastised, before turning to the Space Marine before her. "What she meant to ask is what your armor is, and is there a story behind your weapons' names?"

 **"My armor is an ancient relic, far older than I am. In the stone cross on my left shoulder, the Crux Terminatus, holds a fragment of the Emperor's holy armor. This armor is Tactical Dreadnought Armor, though it is more commonly referred to as Terminator Armor, and is the holiest relic any Space Marine can ever hope to utilize."**

"So... you're quite literally, wearing a 'holy' relic of the past..."

 **"Yes, but that is enough questions for now. We're about to touch down, and I will be meeting your headmaster. Perhaps another time, I shall regale you of the tales telling why my weapons have such names."** Carolus said, before returning his gaze out to the forest spanning for miles in all directions. The tower ahead of of them was hardly the tallest Carolus had ever seen, only being a meager height of that equivalent of a small Imperial fortress' watch tower, yet the top shined like a Beacon through the night, and he was able to make out what looked like a clock on the front. Despite being hardly imposing there was something... different, about it. He felt as though he was going to be meeting someone he should not so easily dismiss as he could the girls around him, such a feeling he did not often get. Reciting a small prayer as they landed, he stepped off the Bullhead and followed the vice headmistress Goodwitch to the tower...

* * *

The elevator was surprisingly strong, and showed enough capability to raise itself up despite his presence. It was a short ride, just as the trip to the tower proper was. The inside of the tower was nothing special, a few contemporary looking stations here and there, flower beds were placed in surprisingly intricate patterns, boxed off by glass railings. He had little interest in the flowers, though, for his attention was centered on the room in front of him now as the elevator doors opened before him to reveal large moving gears above and below him, a large, ornate and intricately designed chandelier hung from the ceiling in the middle of the room, providing ample lighting within the room. The glass below his feet also surprised him, it being strong enough to hold his immense weight without cracking or showing even the slightest signs of stress as he walked across it.

Finally, he stood face to face with a middle-aged looking man, he'd assume was in his thirties or forties, with gray hair, brown eyes, spectacles and a green suit. Despite the man's average looking appearance, Carolus immediately knew something was off about him...

"Thank you for bringing our esteemed guest to us, Glynda, Team RWBY... If you could wait down in the reception area, for my call, I'd be most appreciative. I need to speak with this man, in private." The headmaster coolly stated, to which the five girls immediately followed suit with the order. As soon as the elevator door shut, the headmaster pressed a button on his desk, and the windows suddenly were covered by metal shutters, blocking any light from getting out...

"You must be 'The Venerable,' am I mistaken?" The headmaster said, beginning the conversation on his own terms.

 **"Should I question how you know what most call me by when you've not been told?"** Asked the Space Marine.

"I had a dream of you, I'll be honest. It may have been many, many years ago, but you're rather difficult to forget. I know your title, and Ms. Goodwitch told me your name. Welcome to Beacon Academy, Carolus Vhemias. I am Headmaster Ozpin, and truly, it's an honor to finally speak to one of the Emperor's Finest."

 **"You evidently know more than the others, I want to know how."**

The man chuckled, before sliding a mug of coffee across his desk for the Space Marine. "The Imperium isn't unknown to Remnant entirely. A select few learn about you, though I'll admit, we know rather little... I am one of those select few, and you are indeed, very interesting to us."

 **"I see..."** The Chaplain calmly spoke. A silence hung over the room for a few moments before the marine stepped towards the Headmaster's desk and took the mug. **"You want something... but there will be no trade of knowledge or actions before all cards are on the table. You said 'us,' unless you just naturally speak strange, I'd say you're simply one part of a larger operation, am I not mistaken?"**

"I see the legends of the Adeptus Astartes do little justice to just how perceptive you are... impressive indeed. Yes, you are correct. The organization I, Ms. Goodwitch and several others whom's names are currently irrelevant are the organization that protects the world from the threats it doesn't even know of. We're charged with the protection of mankind, here, and the faunas."

 **"Is that what that... abhuman, is called? a 'Faunas'? That Blake girl under Rose's charge?"**

"Yes... though I shouldn't be surprised that you'd pick such a detail out. Yes, Ms. Belladonna is a Faunas... but I must say, I am very curious as to how she'll enlighten the rest of RWBY of such information." the man mused.

 **"They do not know?"**

"No, to my knowledge, they do not. However, I have dealt with similar situations before. I'm certain that this will only strengthen the bond of their team."

 **"Hmmm... No. No mutant should walk among humans disguised as one... such heresy must be dealt with."**

"It will all come full circle, I assure you. However, in the meantime, there is something I must ask of you."

 **"You already know my answer. I would not be a true Space Marine if I turned a blind eye to the combative plights of mankind when stuck on such a world. The Emperor must have sent me here for a reason... I believe this may be it."** Carolus claimed boldly.

"Well, such is a relief. You should know that you'll be given a greater range of leniency regarding many thing with the tier of access I'm granting you... but for now that can wait. I've developed a device that should be able to transfer the functions of a scroll into your Armor's systems. It contains everything you'll need to know about Remnant, the Grimm, the geography, and the history, as well as it will grant you tier three access."

 **"I suppose it could come in handy, should I need to communicate with your operatives... Though I'm curious as to exactly how many tiers of access there are?"**

"Five, exactly. As I'd said, the details are all there... but be wary, any knowledge granted above tier one is classified to the public. Your Imperium, for example, is classified under tier three... now, before you head off, I've already had quarters prepared for you, stocked with all modern amenities." the green clad headmaster said. Carolus began his walk back towards the elevator, but was stopped by the headmaster...

"However... I am fully aware that you're about to confront Ms. Belladonna. I only ask you hear her out before doing whatever it is you plan to do."

 **"I'll give her a chance to explain herself. If her explanation satisfies me, I'll let her inform her team on her own terms."**

"And if not?" The headmaster curiously asked.

 **"Then you'll have to find a new 'B' for RWBY, if you want a full team out of them."**

* * *

The elevator opened to reveal team RWBY lying in wait for Carolus to return. As soon as he stepped out, the four girls approached him with an air of caution about them. Ruby was the one who'd step up to speak to him, though shaking as she'd done so. They'd not gotten used to his intimidating presence, yet. Though this was something he planned to capitalize on when dealing with the student body of Beacon and those outside it's grounds.

"Ah... Mi'lord, we were informed that we were to guide you to your quarters?" the girl in red shyly tried.

 **"You were not ill informed, I assure you. Now, seeing as I've not yet been acquainted with most of the facility, I believe it only to be appropriate that you'd show me around the campus."**

"Ah, o-of course, mi'lord! Where would you like us to begin?" Ruby beamed.

 **"Your Cafetorium, or mess hall, whatever have you... Bring me there."**

The trip was a short one, being only a few buildings south of the tower. Once there he'd found about what he'd expected, having a tall, vaulted ceiling and four long rows of tables with their benches attached to them. The walls were lined symmetrically of tall windows peaked at the top, each identical to the one across and those next to it.

"This is where we have all our meals! We've, ah... we've only eaten here for a few days, but it already-"

 **"Waste not your breath on irrelevant details, for I care not for them."**

"Ah! Y-yes, Mi'lord, I'm sorry... is there anywhere you wished to visit next?" Ruby hastily said, stiffening as he called her out for the pointless details she was about to share.

 **"Hmmm... No. I shall explore the remainder of this facility come morning... though, come to think of it... Rose, Schnee, and Long-"**

"Actually, its Xia-"

 **"I do not care for the specifics of your name, girl. Cut me off one more time, and I shall kill you where you stand."** Vhemias threatened, to which the blonde shrunk back, sweating as she gulped and nodded furiously. **"Now, the rest of you are dismissed. However, Belladonna, I'd request that you show me to the Librarium."**

"The library? I would not have pictured you as the... book, type of... person." She meekly responded, as her friends began filing out towards their dorm.

 **"A Space Marine is both a warrior and a scholar. Now, let us go."** Spoke the chaplain once more, making it clear that his request was, in reality, a politely phrased demand.

* * *

As it was near midnight, the halls of Beacon were all but abandoned, much to Carolus's pleasure. It didn't take long for them to reach the long hallway that lead down to the library. It was dark, evident from most of the lights being out, but such a veil was nothing his enhanced eyesight could not cleave through. With every step the floor creaked and whined under the sheer weight of his armor, and small vibrations could be felt all around him as he strode down the hall...

"The library is my favorite place in the school... only real place where you can sit down and read with some semblance of peace and quiet." Blake spoke, before looking down at the book she herself held in her hands. The hallway didn't see much use, evident by the dust gathered along the floor where it met the walls, and the small webs scattered here and there across the ceiling.

"It's nice every now and then to just sit down and-" Blake began, but found herself cut off by a firm hand gripping her throat and slamming her into the wall, resounding with a loud _Thud!._ The wall and ceiling cracked under the force at which she was slammed into it, and a few pieces of the ceiling broke off and bounced off the chaplain holding her by the throat and off her head. The speed was astonishing, she'd noted, as she was off the ground and dangling in his one hand in less than a millisecond... and she thought her reflexes were good...

 **"Mutant, or should I call you a Faunas? That is what you're called, isn't it?"** the Chaplain growled out through gritted teeth, sounding ever more threatening.

 _'This is Bad!'_ Blake thought as she panicked under his iron grip. She tried to wriggle free, but only found his grip to tighten further...

 **"Consider it a blessing that I didn't simply shoot you on sight, filth! Any of my brothers would have gunned you, and your friends down for keeping you in their company... however, given the current circumstances, I will allow you to explain yourself. Should I find your answer satisfactory, You'll get to tell your friends of this information on your own terms. If not? Well, I'm sure you already know the answer to that. Talk!"** Carolus whisper-yelled into Blake's face, Making her visibly shake in his grip...

"H-how'd you k-know?" Blake managed to choke out.

 **"The sensors in my helm do not lie... however, you evidently do... Speak, or die."**

"I-I-I d-didn't want... p-people t-to view me as... an-n-ny d-different... W-wanted... them to s-see w-who I-I am... not... w-what... I..." Before the girl could pass out, she was tossed into the adjacent wall, a cobweb of cracks stemming from where she slammed against it as she fell back down to earth. Greedily sucking air back in, she hacked and sputtered from the sudden and vicious assault. Before she could recover, she felt her hair get pulled up, and she was forced to stand lest she be exposed to more pain...

 **"And why, pray tell, would anyone look at you differently? Your kind, disgusting as you may be, seem free to walk among humans as equals. Explain."**

"t-that's not true! That's not true at... at all..." The girl was somewhat hysterical at this point, tears being shed as she barely kept herself together knowing well that she may very soon meet a very sudden and very horrific demise... "After the Great War, we were given equal rights as a way to p-prevent another war, but i-it w-was only in title... we're still discriminated against just because we're different... surely you can s-see this injustice?"

 **"You make the mistake of believing that I hold some care for your kind, animal. I do not. You are not human, and judging by how I've seen you be... I'd say you don't even know yourself, do you?"** Carolus questioned.

"W-what... What do you mean?"

 **"You claim to want people to see who you are, not what... but who are you? Do your friends know who you are? Do you?"**

"I... I don't know... I just..."

 **"Well? Out with it!"**

"I didn't want to be treated differently because of something I can't change!" she yelled, and found a sharp, searing pain scream across her face as the Space Marine's armored hand backhanded her across the face, bringing her to the floor. The blow was unlike any she'd received before, and left her disoriented, dizzy, and confused. Looking back up, she saw the marine standing over her, only with her disoriented state she could have sworn she saw multiple of him. She assumed he'd have his weapons held at the ready, but found herself shocked to simply see that he'd crossed his arms...

 **"Get up."**

 _What?_

 **"I said, Get up! On your feet!"** Vhemias said, giving a light, if rough kick to her side to emphasize the sense of urgency he wanted. Painfully picking herself up, she found herself getting dizzier as she rose to her feet, and felt like she was going to vomit... However, knowing just how close the Astartes was to her, she focused all her willpower to not spewing chunks unto his armor. Finally, after a minute, she'd stood back up, her throat and face badly bruised, but she still stood.

 **"I see you're worth something after all, most would have collapsed awhile ago... I will not kill you... nor will I tell your team... instead, I shall leave that for you to tell on... your own terms. However, I have every detail of your life before this, terrorist scum... should you dare to show even the slightest hint of treachery from here on, I will personally hunt you down and tear you limb from limb. Am I understood?"** His response was a shaky but swift nod from the girl in front of him. Satisfied with her answer, he pushed her back down the hallway and began walking the opposite direction.

 **"Now, Go."** he stated simply, and listened as the girl ran down the hallway like a drunkard. Once she was out of the range he could hear her, she began his brisk walk back to his room...

* * *

His room was simple, though he could work with it. It had a station he'd checked and cleared for maintenance on his armor, a rack for his armor and weapons, a kitchen, bathroom, a large master bedroom, and a wide room with a high ceiling held up by large marble pillars. Down the middle of the room was a large, long crimson and gold carpet that ended at the back windows that reached up to the ceiling. Before the windows was a large desk that he'd found, oddly enough, fit him rather fine. The chair was made to be able to hold up a Space Marine's weight, and so too in Terminator Armor. The windows themselves were decorated by large black curtains, tied back in the middle.

 _This will do... for now. I shall focus on adorning room appropriately for one of my status later, but for now, I've some files to read..._

Nodding to himself, Carolus sat down in his large chair, and began sifting through the files now integrated into his suit's data banks...


	4. Chaplaincy

It was around midnight that he'd heard footsteps, hasty but light, racing down the halls coming ever closer. He was not alarmed, as the scent accompanying the sound was that of roses, one he'd already become familiar with that same night. It would seem the girl was still curious, though he could not blame her, as he was something she'd possibly never even imagined could exist. He could easily track just how far away she was, how fast she was coming, and other things about her as she approached, noting how much faster she was than any other human he'd met. On her feet, she could easily see her keeping pace with some Eldar. It wasn't long before he heard a knock on the massive doors at the front of his large room, though he was debating whether he should just ignore the request for entry or allow her in and humor her with half of his attention.

Deciding against the former, he pressed a button on the underside of his desk, and a small buzzing sound resounded. It was an annoying sound, one he'd have to have removed it he thought to keep his sanity. Slowly one of the doors opened to reveal who he'd already known was coming. He was facing the window in his chair, not bothering to turn around to greet the girl entering the room as the moonlight illuminated the front of his form in a pale glow. She slowly walked down the crimson carpet, slowly taking in everything within the room, and the sheer size of it. It felt like he'd be waiting an eternity for her to finally reach him, but after about a minute, she'd finally reached his desk...

"M-mi'lo-" She began, but was swiftly cut off by the astartes.

 **"Need I ask why I'm being disturbed, Rose?"** He simply stated, though his voice froze her in place. **"Well? Out with it!"** he sharply said, which snapped her back to reality.

"Y-yes, mi'lord! I ah... I was wondering what exactly a ah... a 'Chaplain' does... and what's a 'Blood Raven'?" she asked meekly.

 **"Curiosity, is it? You broke curfew out of idle curiosity?"** he waited for a response, but received none, merely noting that she'd started hanging her head and swinging her arms. **"Well, I suppose I've nothing better to do, and your curfew really is of no matter to me... Now, to understand the role of a Chaplain, you must first understand the Space Marines, and their relation to the Emperor, and the whole history of it is rather extensive."**

"Ah, I understand... Well, I-I don't r-really, ah... have anything to do tomorrow... It's the weekend, after all..."

 **"I suppose that's a good thing, after all, you've no choice in whether you were going to listen or not after you asked. Now..."**

* * *

 _ **Ten thousand years ago, in the 30th millennium, the Emperor, or, if you were to ask a Space Wolf, the Allfather, revealed himself upon Holy Terra, and swiftly reunited Terra under one banner through crushing the Techno-barbarian tribes. From there, he began his creation of his favored twenty sons, the Primarchs, from whom the Space Marines would be born.**_

 _ **Metaphorically speaking, of course, any Space Marine you'd ever see was born much the same way as you were, but I digress. The Primarchs, through a force you may not yet know the name of, were scattered across the galaxy in their infancy. As a response to this, the Emperor launched his great crusade in search for his lost sons. The Space Marines he'd already developed upon Holy Terra were already legion, and set to the stars to reunite with their long Primarchs.**_

 _ **As the Great Crusade carried on, and the Primarchs were reunited with their legions and vice versa, war followed in their wake as the Space Marines reclaimed the lost fragments of humanity scattered across the stars. We Space Marines stood at the forefront of the Crusade, fighting mutants, aliens, and traitors alike. Those worlds that did not comply through diplomacy, did by force. The Imperium of Man stood in a Golden Age of a sorts... and then, Horus happened.**_

 _Ah... sorry to interruption, Mi'lord... But who is "Horsus?"_

 ** _Horus, Rose, not Horsus. Horus, of those Primarchs found, was made Warmaster, and took the Emperor's position leading the Great Crusade in his stead. Though as the Crusade dragged on, and we continued to conquer worlds, unite humanity, and make species of xenos go extinct, the seeds of treachery were sown. The Warmaster, Horus Lupercal, and those legions loyal to him over the Emperor, turned their backs on humanity, sending all those still loyal to the Emperor in their legions down to the surface of Istvaan V before virus-bombing the entire planet. On 566.006.M31, The Horus Heresy had begun. For nine years, the war between loyalists and the foul traitors would rage across the galaxy, setting it aflame, though after only two Horus had been slain by the Emperor's hand, and the Emperor himself was interred upon the Golden throne. At the conclusion of the Horus Heresy, several Primarchs lie slain, and the Space Marine Legions were broken up into smaller chapters of Astartes following the 2nd Founding ensued by Roboute Guilliman, the Primarch of the Ultramarines. Each Chapter was to number only around 1000 Space Marines, though this rule is sometimes not applied to chapters of Space Marines, such as the Black Templars who are said to number around 5000._**

 _Ummm... You didn't say what-_

 _ **I was getting to that... Now, the role of a Chaplain originated from the Word Bearers from before they betrayed the Emperor, though their original role was to keep the Legions' Librarians in line and maintain the spiritual well-being of their Battle-Brothers. The contemporary role of a Chaplain is not quite the same in all aspects. We're still charged as spiritual and battle leaders, though our association with the Librarians in our respective chapters is not quite as much as it used to be. This is no different than with the Blood Ravens, the Chapter I myself hail from.**_

 _You said that the Space Marine chapters descended from the original Legions, right? Who are the Blood Ravens from?_

 _ **That is a question I cannot answer, because I do not know the answer to it. We Blood Ravens, unfortunately, have lost all record of the legion we hailed from, and our Primarch. However, this does not shake our loyalty to the Emperor, nor does it hinder us from our duties. We do, however, know when our Chapter was founded. During M36, the Blood Ravens Space Marine Chapter was founded, and since our founding, and we have served the Emperor of Mankind faithfully for five thousand years.**_

 _And you also said you were the Chaplain of the... second company, I believe you said?_

 ** _Yes. I, Carolus Vhemias, am the Chaplain of the Blood Ravens' 2nd company, and have held this position for 125 standard Terran years._**

* * *

"Wow... that's... wow..." Ruby said, astonished by what she'd just heard. She could easily tell he'd grazed over many of the details, that much was obvious... though part of her was glad he did, for she had a feeling she'd be there all night were he to go in depth...

 **"I take it this has sated your curiosity, Rose?"** the marine questioned, to which the girl gave a swift nod.

 **"Good. Now, Leave."** he stated simply, but was somewhat surprised when she spoke up again...

"A-actually... t-there's something I-I'd like to ask o-of y-you..."

 **"Only the brave or the foolish do not leave when a Space Marines demands they leave. Which are you?"** the Marine tested, turning around and finally facing the girl. His blazing eyes bore into hers, making her feel tiny against him. Though, unlike every other time, despite shaking like a leaf, this time she stood her ground and dared to look him in the eyes...

 _Smack!_

Ruby was sent reeling across the room, and smacked against a pillar adjacent to where she stood. She'd barely caught herself, and just barely raised her aura in time to take the blow. She stood, though on weak legs. Despite having raised her aura in time, it still hurt like a _bitch_ and and opened up a gash along her cheek. Not to mention her aura was now so easily shattered. Looking back up at the Space Marine, who now stood mere inches from her, she once again looked him in the eyes...

 **"I see..."** he said, **"I have my answer, now... Speak your request, I might consider it."**

Collecting her thoughts once more she took a moment to breathe deeply, as though she'd passed some great test. Continuing to meet the gaze of the Space Marine, she spoke.

"You said you're a leader, you've led the charge into war for a century... You must have great leadership experience... I'd like to learn from you. Not just to be a better leader but to become a greater warrior. When I saw you, part of me froze... I knew actual fear for the first time... I don't want to freeze like that a second time." She spoke boldly, never breaking eye contact with the Astartes before her.

 **"I see... it is strength you seek? You wish to become more powerful?"** He stood still for a moment, merely waiting for a response. He got what he desired as she firmly nodded her head to him. **"And you realize exactly what you're getting yourself into, here?"** Once again, he received his reply in the form of a nod. **"I can grant what you seek... but why should I? Noble your reasons to fight may be, it is hardly enough alone for me to consider taking you, a mere mortal, under my wing."**

"What more is there? You yourself said my reasons to fight are noble, and-"

 **"A test, if you will, shall prove your worth to me. Bring me evidence of strength you already have, and I shall... humor, your request."** Carolus said with a sardonic tone in his voice. Carefully, Ruby considered his offer with some hope. She could prove her strength if she were given a target... but what target could she bring low that would impress a Space Marine such as himself?

With a hopeless sigh, she looked around the room for a moment, as if trying to find an answer from the walls. However, as the walls could not speak they would not provide her an answer. Looking back up to the Space Marine in front of her, she supposed daring once more might not be the worst idea...

"You want me to find a target and bring it down, right? Just give me a target, I'll tear it up!" She beamed up at him. The cold, green stare that met her she could only be certain was, in a way, mocking her. Yet she didn't dare back down, not now.

 **"I suppose your enthusiasm counts for something... however pointless. You're a bold one, Rose, to speak as you do to one such as I. But, I suppose it is of no consequence to me to send you the location of a beast with which to prove your strength against..."**

"Give me a target! I'll prove to you I have strength!"

 _Smack!_

Ruby clenched her jaw as she fell to the floor. She coughed up blood as she quickly pulled herself back up to a standing position to look him dead in the eyes once more. Having braced herself for the blow she knew was coming, she was able to mitigate some of the damage, though her left cheek was now bleeding more profusely. The Chaplain returned her gaze, a look of wonder behind his lenses.

 **"Hmmm... Yes, this will do... in Minstrel, there is a beast of Grimm I have read about. A creature so dastardly that in a thousand years no man has ever been able to fell it... you shall bring low this beast, or you will die trying. I will arrange your transport, and you will be provided proper preservation equipment. You will bring me this creature's head, or your corpse will lie still there as another of the thousands that have tried before you. You have until Sunday night to kill this beast, you will meet that time frame, else we have nothing to say to each other afterwards. You understand this?"** Carolus said, his voice sounding much less harsh than it had before. With a quick nod, Ruby turned about and headed towards the landing pads.

With the girl out of his hair, Carolus returned to his desk before bringing up Beacon's aerial transport. He honestly doubted that she'd actually return within the time frame, or at all, for that matter. Though, he supposed he could not fault her for wishing to prove her value and place there. It was, after all, a very human-like thing to do... however fickle their tendencies may be in nature.

This line of though earned a small chuckle out of him, having momentarily forgotten that he too was human, even if only to an extent. It was an easy thing not to consider, he thought. Having been a Space Marine since the tender age of 15, it was all too easy, he found, to forget his own mortality had once been a thing. Nevertheless, the mission the girl was about to embark upon was easily a suicide mission, but a suicide mission she'd asked for... if she returned, he supposed he could honor her request.

After another small call, he'd been informed that the girl, Ruby, had been given all the necessary equipment for preserving the beast's head, should she manage to kill it. To be fair, he did feel somewhat bad for the girl, being so desperate to prove herself that she was willing to risk her own life if only for a chance to train in a way that would yet again endanger her life... but such were the ways of warriors and soldiers, he knew. She'd not be the first to die chasing a dream, and she'd certainly not be the last.

Shaking such thoughts from his head, he returned his gaze to the window, looking upon the shattered moon so mesmerizing above...

* * *

It wasn't an hour after six that his presence had been requested once more at the tower. It was something he'd known would happen. Several members of this organization he'd be meeting, even the supposed uncle of the girl he'd sent to fell the beast. It would be a conversation he'd have little interest indulging himself in, though he knew he'd have little choice in the matter, considering the details of the mission were already popping up all over his feed. Nevertheless, he'd been informed of this "Qrow" figure by the information already provided to him. A veteran huntsman, adept with a scythe, sword, and reportedly a shotgun too, with the semblance of bad luck, however that did work, to boot. A skilled fighter, perhaps, for a mortal. Certainly better suited for the missions he's sent on than Carolus himself would have been. It was of no matter, he thought as the elevator climbed up the tower at a snail's pace.

It had taken longer than he would have liked, reaching the top of the tower that is. Immediately upon the doors opening he'd noticed the... variety, of figures in the room. Despite some only being present as a hologram, he could easily tell that they all had some modicum of training and just as much if not more combat experience. The dusty old Qrow silently glared daggers at him as he strode into the room, while a man in a white military uniform present only as a hologram, seemed to only raise his eyebrows slightly. Various other faces were seen and recognized, present in the room with them whether in person or otherwise. The headmasters of other academies, their seconds in command, and individual agents and Glynda were all present. After a small delay, Ozpin turned his gaze to the Space Marine before him, smiling at the sight that he'd already gotten comfortably settled in, to an extent at least.

"Ah, so our esteemed guest, Chaplain Vhemias, has arrived. Everyone, this man, no, Space Marine, is from the Imperium of Man, the very dominion we all know so little of. Lord Vhemias, have you-" the headmaster spoke, before being rudely cut off by one of his agents...

"Okay, there's a really damn good reason I ain't piss drunk right now, and before whatever ass kissing begins, I'll be damned if I don't jump on it!" The veteran, Qrow, interrupted. "I wanna know why the hell this so called, "Space Marine" send my niece on a suicide mission to kill the Manreaper!"

Carolus merely turned his gaze to the man, whom did not flinch under his harsh gaze, and began looking the man up and down. He already knew all relevant information about him, merely wanting to make personal observations for a moment before responding.

 **"Your niece, Ruby Rose, as I recall, did not unwillingly go on this mission. She practically pleaded for it, the opportunity to prove her strength to me. IF she manages to slay the beast, I'll honor her request... but as stated, she must prove her strength to me, first."** he stated matter-of-fact-ly, earning a further narrowed glare from the huntsman.

"Oh really? And what the hell would she want from YOU?" Qrow growled, daring to step closer to him...

"Mr. Branwen, take a step back! I should remind you that even if everyone here were physically present, we would not win if we were so bold as to attack our own esteemed guest!" snapped the ever stern Glynda Goodwitch. Carolus merely nodded at her, before returning his gaze to the uncle of the girl he'd sent out...

 **"Ignoring your tone, your niece pleaded to be trained by me in the ways of being a Chaplain. The selection of this target was not random, I assure you, as it will not only allow her to prove her strength, if she succeeds, she'll have removed a rather painful thorn from your side, no?"** In response, the dusty old crow could only growl, before taking a step back. The reasoning behind his targeting was sound... but they still knew it was most likely a suicide mission...

"Even so, sending her after such a target... I can't quite fully agree with your reasoning, lord Vhemias." Spoke Ozpin, before Carolus then turned his gaze to him.

 **"It would not be an impressive target if it was something you were certain she could kill, would it? No. She, like all warriors before her, and all that will come after, will be staring straight into the maws of death. Whether she emerges triumphant or falls before this beast, we will know in due time. Now, Headmaster, I believe you were asking me of something?"** the Space Marine stated plainly, dropping his conversation with Branwen in favor of continuing the previous line of thought.

"Yes... have you settled in well?" The headmaster asked somewhat casually.

 **"As well as one night would permit. The room provided is spacious, but will need some obvious remodeling and redecorating... however, that being said, before you ask, I've already gotten the lay of the land, so to speak. Anything of any importance in this facility I'm already familiar with, at least of it's location."**

"Excellent. Now, If there isn't anything else needed to be said before we start, speak now, or hold your peace." He stated simple. Nobody spoke, knowing well that it would be promptly ignored by the member there of the highest seniority.

"Very good. Now, let us get onto the topic at hand..."

* * *

Carolus had only listened with half an ear during the meeting. Mostly everything discussed were in preparations of the up-coming "Vytal Festival," as they'd dubbed it. He could honestly care less about it, but as it seemed to be such a major event, he supposed at least ensuring the safety of civilians during the event was important. Come the conclusion of the meeting, he'd made his way down to the training rooms, curious as to the styles of battling he'd find being used there...

The first sight he was greeted to was the sight of the blonde girl from last night flying across the room and slamming her fist into the face of some boy with a mace that he could not bring himself to feel sorry for. A redhead, cackling like a maniac, swung a warhammer around aggressively at all those unfortunate enough to be her training partners. A blonde knight and another redhead with armor and weapons akin to that of a Spartan's practiced basic sword and shield techniques, though it was painfully obvious who there was the better of the two. The girl in white, Weiss, he recalled, practiced her dueling techniques with another student using a sort of halberd. A boy in green, the odd one out, was sleeping in a chair.

As he continued to stride forth into the room, combat gradually ceased around him. He paid it no mind, only continuing to move until he found himself in the center of the room, and everything seemed to stop around him. He cracked a slight grin under his mask, and looked back upon all the warriors present in the room. There were at least nineteen, counting the boy in green, whom had woken up to see what exactly was going on. It would seem that with just but a few steps, he'd become the star of the show, and it wasn't in his nature to show why he was just that...

 **"Well, warriors? Are you just going to stand there, gawking, or will you show me a true fight?!. Come! Come do battle with me like a warrior of old and show me you're worth something, Mortals!"** Carolus boomed, immediately being met with the charge of eight warriors. He knew these ones, teams JNPR and CRDL, and he showed no hesitation returning their charge.

His speed, far superior to theirs, let him close the gap in an instant. Swinging _Worldsplitter_ around in a low, horizontal arc, he easily caught Lie Ren and Russel Thrush between their ribs, sweeping them aside easily, smashing their auras and snapping ribs as they were flung aside. Ducking low, he rammed forward, catching Pyrrha Nikos in her abdomen and throwing her over his shoulder before spinning about and meeting the oncoming warhammer with his Crozius, flinging the former weapon out of the Valkyrie's hands before shoving _Deathsong_ against her chest and firing. The bolts blasted against her chest, flinging her back, demolishing her aura and shattering a rib or two of hers in the process. Being in Terminator Armor, he was easily granted 360 degrees of vision (I know that sounds like a stretch, but look at the lore, seriously, don't know if that's been edited or not since last I read, but Terminator Armor grants that), allowing him to see the blonde girl, Yang, blasting full speed towards him. On the other hand, in front of him, the boy with the mace had since brandished it in both hands, and was swinging it in a very wide arc... ' _Oh, this is just too good!'_ Carolus thought, as instead of meeting them head on, he simply opted to teleport away, letting the blonde girl fly headlong into the boy's mace. The collision of the two objects flying at each other at such a great speed proved too much for either to withstand, with the mace shattering upon impact, the boy being flung onto his back, and the girl sent reeling back into Blake with enough force to severely damage the latter's aura, while her own was reduced to nothing from the brutal impact. The boy, Cardin Winchester, skid to a stop right at Carolus's feet, and he grinned in satisfaction as he turned around and loosed sixteen shots, each finding their mark in a target still charging at him. Three fell to the Storm Bolter's song, as Cardin could barely manage a scream when Carolud brought his foot down upon his chest, quick enough to shatter the boy's aura and make an indent the shape of the hapless boy in the floor.

With all of CRDL out of the picture and JNPR reduced by half, that only left Weiss, Blake, CFVY, Nikos, Arc, and team SGTA (which unsurprisingly enough was led by some guy in a karate gig named "Segata Sanshiro"). Blake was shooting at him from a distance, which really hadn't done a thing to him. Though, to their credit, he was somewhat annoyed by the constant pinging noises made by Coco's minigun as it ricocheted off his armor harmlessly. Jaune and Pyrrha were trying to be sneaky, and he did not appreciate that, so he did the only logical thing he knew to do...

 **"Go Away."** Carolus droned in a bored tone, spinning about too quickly for them to follow and kicking the already damaged Pyrrha Nikos in the face, knocking her away, before dropping the head of _Worldsplitter_ down upon Jaune, who, interestingly enough, withstood the blow... well, stayed conscious through it, at least. Turning his attention away, he moved to face the incoming gunfire... to suddenly feel slightly stuck in place. looking down, he saw his legs, up to midway up his thigh, at least, were totally encased in ice. Scoffing at the pathetic attempt of immobilization, he easily broke free of the ice, simple walking through it, the servos in his armor assisting in breaking through, despite him not needing it. Teleporting up behind them, he swung his Crozius low, smashing Weiss aside before pivoting about and blasting the big man with a greatsword in the face with a flurry of bolts. A blind faunas swiftly closed the gap with him to try to slash at him with the blades mounted on his wrists, though he could only laugh at the notion. Clipping both his weapons to his belt, he swung his arm out, catching the poor boy, Fox, by the throat, before heaving him up, and savagely slamming his fist into the boy's face, shattering his aura and bloodying his nose, before casting the unconscious boy aside like a broken doll and moving onto the next faunas. Blake was too slow to activate her semblance to take the hit for her as she'd within an instant from Fox getting cast aside, found a knee driven into her face, knocking her out cold. The annoying minigun was still pinging off his armor, the bunny Faunas, Velvet, he chalked up to being downright useless, merely taking pictures as she would, and team SGTA was... nowhere to be found. looking around, he merely saw a note left by their leader. Picking it up, he read the contents of the note...

 _"Off to fight Club Zombies again. Wish us luck.  
Sincerely, Segata Sanshiro"_

Dropping the note, he merely rolled his eyes before breaking into a sprint towards Coco. It took only a second to close the distance, laughing internally as he'd made a mockery of these warriors so far. Swiftly, he sent his beloved mace sailing towards Coco...

 _CLANG!_

Carolus's attack was forced back, and he swiftly looked to his right to see the bunny girl suspended in mid air, in a sort of holographic version of his own armor using such weapons as well. Spinning _Worldsplitter_ in one hand, he rushed towards the bunny girl and swung, her barely, just barely, catching his attack with her own holographic version of his Crozius. Thinking fast, he sidestepped the next attack of hers, opting to punch her face once her uppercut had passed over his head before spinning about and slamming his mace into the side of Coco's head, knocking her away, unconscious. Quickly looking back to his target, the bunny girl, he spun around, deftly avoiding another uppercut, before kicking her in the chest to stagger her, and throwing himself forward, slamming his own Crozius into the girl's face. Velvet's aura was reduced to only about 12%, which was leagues better than any of the other opponents thus far.

Staggering back to her feet, her armor gone, Velvet swiftly retreated to help her fallen comrades back up, as Carolus merely chuckled under his mask...

 **"You all did battle with a Space Marine, one of 175 years of experience in war, with terminator honors and chaplaincy to boot. You should all be so proud that you lasted this long, even it it was under a minute. Now, get yourselves patched up, a warrior who cannot fight is useless on the fields of battle. See to it that you can fight again by this afternoon."** Carolus spoke plainly, before once more taking his leave...

* * *

The cafetorium was good enough, serving actual food to the warriors of Beacon as opposed to the junk most schools would normally dish out for their students. He'd sat at a table, unknowingly, in Ruby's usual spot, as the rest of the students began to file in for lunch. Yang took a seat next to him, too exhausted to realize she had, only noticing when Weiss had pointed it out. They talked freely, with Carolus himself ignoring almost all they said as it mattered so little to him. He'd almost finished his food when Yang had finally worked up the courage to seek his attention...

"Uhh... Lord Carolus?"

"Speak, Xiao Long. I might hear your request." He spoke, his deep voice still resounding powerfully despite the lack of the metallic tang to his voice.

"Well... I was wondering if you'd seen Ruby... She went to your chambers last night and never came back. We haven't seen her at all, today..."

"Ah, so the lack of her presence worries you? Well, I suppose it's no secret. Your sister has embarked upon a journey, to slay the Minstrali Manreaper to prove her strength." he stated casually, causing everyone at the table to either spit out their drinks or momentarily choke on their food...

 **"SHE'S DOING WHAT?!."** Everyone of RWBY and JNPR screamed at him. they all looked ready to kill, but he simply halted them all with the raise of his hand...

"I needn't repeat myself. She's undertaking this journey because she wants to. Should she slay the beast, She'll have proven her strength to me, and I'll honor our bargain... though, if she falls, there'll be little way to honour that bargain, as she herself is needed for it. Do know that this trial is being taken under her own choice, and she had all the capacity to not take it." He said, silencing all the teens around him. They knew well that, despite most of them only having been friends with her a week, that if Ruby had wanted to embark upon this journey given the choice, there was little any of them could do to stop her. Yang sighed in defeat before looking back down at her food...

"She could have at least had us go with her... facing it alone is..."

"All but suicidal, I know. But it wouldn't be a trial if she didn't face something everyone knew without a doubt she'd triumph over. No, she faces a deck stacked completely against her, but should she come out on top, she'll be stronger for it, will she not?" He stated, calming the girl somewhat. She didn't respond, nobody did, merely going back to their food to eat the rest of it. Not a word was spoken for the remainder of the time they were all together. Not even one.

* * *

Night had fallen and Carolus had since retreated once more to his room. He'd ordered some redecorating and remodeling that morning, and was pleased to see that they'd already finished his requsition. Now he sat at his desk, once more facing the window, letting the moon's pale glow rest upon the front of his frame, illuminating his black armor in it's light. It was peaceful, something he knew was just so rare now, so he relished it while he could. The stars in the skies aligned in no way he could recognize, making it impossible for him to pin down where exactly in the galaxy he was at that very moment. Sighing, he knew the chances of him seeing his brothers again come the next millennia were so slim, but he'd be damned if that'd stop him from trying to reach them.

It was only fifty minutes past midnight when the request to enter had arrived. pressing the button, he was instantly greeted with a familiar smell, and the sound of something being dragged across the carpet...

 **"So, You've already returned, have you? You have not come empty handed, have you?"** He said calmly...

 _Thump!_

A massive head was thrown forward, rolling to a stop just before his desk. Pivoting around to see what it was, Carolus raised his eyebrows in surprise. Here lied the head of the Minstrali Manreaper, and behind it stood a little girl, her clothes and cloak tattered and torn, blood caked on whatever remnants of what she once wore hugging her frame loosely. Fresh scar tissue running down her face, from the top of her forehead, around her right eye and down to the back of her jaw. Blood was splattered across her face, her own blood... but nevertheless, she stood here, triumphant...

Removing his mask, he looked her dead in the eyes, honest surprise held in his. It only took a moment for him t crack a slight grim, before walking past her, and gesturing her to follow...

"Come, Apprentice. It is time to get you properly equipped and trained."


	5. The First Day

It did not take long for Carolus and his new protege to reach Beacon's forges, as the very facilities took up an entire building on their own. Now was just the matter of requisitioning the equipment from the quartermaster so that Ruby could make her new equipment. Such being said, Beacon did not have materials required to make gear worthy of a Space Marine, nor did it have the proper equipment to refine materials to such a degree... but this sat fine with him, as his apprentice wouldn't be using ceramite or adamantine plate armor. Ruby's scythe had sustained critical damage in the fight with the beast, and needed immediate repairs as well. Internally sighing to himself, he knew he'd be assisting her in the forge all night, considering her new armor _was_ based on a mixture of Astartes battle plate designs, and he didn't want her screwing anything up.

"M-mi'lord? what are we-" Ruby began, but stopped talking as soon as he'd shoved his requisition list into her face. After taking a moment to read it, her eyes somewhat widened at how large the requisition was...

"Uhhh... you do know that the quartermaster can only-"

 **"I am aware of that."** Carolus said, the metallic ring present in his voice as he'd slid his helmet back into place. **"But you're sitting at only tier one access, and the Quartermaster two. I outrank him, if he wishes to question my requisition, he'd be testing my authority, and by extension, the Headmaster's."**

"O-oh... well then, what shall you have me construct, mi'-"

 **"No longer shall you refer to me as 'Lord.' You're my apprentice, so I am your master. You shall address me as such."** he swiftly stated, not once diverting his gaze away from the path towards the quartermaster's stowage depot. **"You shall be crafting a full suit of armor, and repairing your current weapon."**

"Oh... ah, mi- master, I uhh... when will I get my, ah... 'Crozius'?" Ruby queried, but was only met with silence for a moment. She was indeed marveled by the power of his, and greatly wished for her own... It was such a devastating weapon, she thought. Though, keeping in mind that it was a mace, she knew that once she obtained it, she'd have to train extra hard with it to even be half-competent, as she'd never even lifted a mace in her life...

 **"You will not be receiving or constructing a Crozius, not yet. You are not yet a chaplain, but a training chaplain. Until you finish your spiritual training, and have learned what exactly it means to be a member of the chaplaincy in full, you shall not receive your Crozius."** Carolus droned, repeating the words his late predecessor, Mikalus, had spoken to him. In response, his new apprentice merely nodded, only half-satisfied with her new master's response. For now, she'd merely go along with whatever it was they were about to do.

After a few minutes of crossing empty halls, they'd finally come upon the quartermaster and the stowage depot. He was a fairly large man, with a tattoo of a snake going up his face and a hawk with it's wings spread wide across his right bicep. With a raised brow the man looked upon his two newest arrivals, one he was stunned by the sheer size of, the other he was stunned by how banged up she was. With a small groan and a pop of his back as he twisted from side to side, the large man greeted his guests...

"Oi. You lot do know it's past curfew, yeah? Not that I really care, been bored outta my mind for the past... wanna say five hours? Jack Curisas, Beacon Quartermaster, at your service." The newly named Quartermaster greeted. Ruby wanted to return the greeting, be courteous and polite, all that good stuff. Though she already knew it'd be best to let the requisition speak for itself. Nodding to Carolus, Carolus reached out, handing the man the paper...

To which his eyes nearly burst out of his head.

"WHAT?!. I'm sorry, but you're not authorized to make such a req-" Jack began, though he was swiftly interrupted.

 **"You're mistaken, I am Carolus Vhemias. I outrank you in system access. You will see to my requisition, or you may explain to the Headmaster why you defied the command of an individual that outranks you in the IHA."** Carolus bluntly and sharply declared, to which the man backed down, relenting before the titan before him who also happened to outrank him...

"Y-yes, of course, sir... my apologies..."

 **"That is Lord Vhemias to you. See to it that you make not such a mistake a second time, either of the two you'd just made."**

The man nodded in affirmation, busying himself by typing commands into his terminal, bringing up all relevant data and information for their requisition. After about two or three minutes, the man looked back to Carolus whilst giving a thumbs up. Reaching down, he pulled out a small slip from a safe in his desk and handed it to the Space Marine. The card read just one green number, that being 7, with the word "Forge" directly above it in black. Getting the memo, Carolus beckoned his apprentice to follow, to which she did without hesitation.

* * *

They'd found Forge 7 easily enough. Presenting the card to the machine before the door to have it scanned, they were left to wait for confirmation for another five or so seconds. To Ruby, those seconds really didn't matter, seeing at they had all night and the following day to forge her new armor and repair _Crescent Rose,_ though to Carolus, that was five seconds wasted waiting when they could have been already getting to work on her armor.

Finally, they were inside. Carolus's requisition had already been filled out, and he saw that the resources he'd requested were as well already there. He didn't think it was too much of a deal, his requisition, being only several dozen pounds of dust and roughly two hundred more of various high-grade metals. Really, was that so much to ask for? Was it?

 _'Apparently so,'_ he dryly thought, rolling his eyes at the notion that an academy that supposedly trained the greatest warriors of that world could not spare the supplies needed to make one full suit of armor. Looking down to his newly dubbed apprentice, he gave her a slight shove with _Deathsong,_ pointing his Crozius towards the forge and equipment to clarify what he'd meant before she could wonder what the push was for. The girl gulped, noting just how big and heavy the armor she was making was gonna be, and that she'd have to wear it...

While all else slept in, played games, or generally just screwed around at the dorms for this first weekend, Ruby, under the supervision of her new master, hammered away in the forge. Carolus had food brought in to sustain the girl while she forged her armor, though not of any random junk the cafetorium might just throw on a plate. It wasn't until late the night of the following day that her armor was done, with how complex it'd been made.

Wiping her brow, Ruby took a moment to admire her own handiwork. From what Carolus had told and shown her, the armor was akin to the mark III, IV, and VII armors, except while the mask he himself bore was present, her's was notably less ornate, and the armor lacked a power pack. The left pauldron bore silver studs like the mark IV greaves, and the right held her own insignia, a rose, over the black armor. Her breastplate was based on the Mark III armor, with silver lining and her own insignia engraved into the middle. Silver lenses shown brightly on the mask, which Ruby noted was probably in reference to her own eye color.

As awesome as she thought the armor was, it was heavy. Very heavy. So heavy, that it was presenting some... unforeseen issues, in returning to her dorm...

* * *

With _Crescent Rose_ repaired, and her new armor forged, she was dismissed from her master, who swiftly stalked off back towards his chambers, leaving her all alone to get back to her dorm. This wouldn't have been a problem, it she was able to effectively move in the armor. Maybe it's that the forge was three stories underground, maybe it's that there wasn't an elevator there because of budget cuts, or maybe, just maybe, it was that she had to walk up two big flights of stairs in armor that weighed well over a hundred pounds just to reach the forge exit, and another four flights of stairs to reach her dorm in the dormitory that, like the forge, did not have an elevator because of budget cuts...

 _Why the heck does this place get so many darn budget cuts?!._

Ignoring the irrelevant thought, Ruby softly grunted as she pushed past the last flight of stairs. Her muscles ached the entire way up and she thought the floor looked like a nice place to sleep at the immediate moment, but she'd managed to get to the top. Quickly stalking down the hall, she soon found her dorm, the door open as her team were all there, apparently waiting for her. It'd seem they were not unaware of her return, though she'd be wrong to assume they weren't surprised by her new appearance.

"Ruby, you're back!" Yang called, embracing her sister in a big hug. Weiss merely nodded and Blake waved, not bothering to look up from her book. Yang's normally lung-crushing hug wasn't very prominently noticed, the armor preventing the girl from actually crushing Ruby.

"You look... different."

"Well... I'd imagine I would..." Ruby replied, the mask giving her notmally soft voice a metallic ring. "Under normal circumstances, I'd wish to say hello to all as of my return, but I am exhausted, and this armor is heavy..." taking the que, Yang removed herself from Ruby, and assisted in taking off the armor.

It took roughly twenty minutes to get all the armor off, with the girl wearing it being as tired as she was it was difficult to remove the armor without her assistance or instruction. Finally, the armor removed, Ruby decided Weiss's bed a fine place to sit for a moment... before immediately falling asleep.

Weiss groaned in annoyance while the busty blonde beside her only chuckled, lifting the reaper off the heiress's bed and onto her own. While her sister slept, Yang inspected the armor, noting just how remarkably heavy it was. It was a surprise, she thought, that her sister had pushed herself all the way from the forge, whatever level she was on, all the way to this room. In such heavy armor Yang noted that she herself would likely be feeling a little worn down...

She suddenly found she wasn't too terribly confident in Ruby and her new training...

Her confidence aside, she supposed it was high time her sister had started on actually upper body strength training. Great shape she may have been in, her upper body strength was negligible at best, especially considering that Junior's thugs hit several times harder, and they were scrubs at best... as long as Ruby didn't start punching harder than she herself did. Then again, the chances of anyone doing that were rather laughable... well, Carolus notwithstanding.

* * *

Morning came soon enough, the sun's rays lightly pouring through the curtains and onto their faces. After about an hour of waking up and doing all their small morning rituals, they'd looked to their clocks to see the time. 6:30, it read out, meaning they'd have 45 minutes to eat and get to class. Ruby took the longest to get dressed, her uniform having been replaced with her armor, and her schedule slightly changed from her teammates...

"Hey, Ruby, ready for that pretest in Ms. Peach's class?" Yang asked, receiving a small shake from the girl in question's head.

"Carolus had administration change up my schedule to accommodate for my training with him, since I'm now his protege. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday instead of normal classes, I have training with him from 7:15 to 6, and on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 3:30 to 5:30. Sunday I'm doing spiritual training the bulk of the day... whatever that is." She replied, getting a slightly dejected look from her sister.

"Aw, man! Guess that means we won't be seeing each other as much as we'd like to, huh? Oh well, guess we'll still share classes on Tuesday and Thursday, right?"

"Yeah, that we will... I am not looking forward to today..." Ruby finished in an already exhausted sounding voice. Yang just simply ruffled the her sister's hair as they continued to gather the stuff they'd need for the day.

Yang more carefully examines _Crescent Rose,_ noting that the blade looked heavier than before, and all around the weapon looked as though it'd been reinforced. Overall, the weapon looked for the most part the same as it did before, but she hadn't known her sister would have needed to modify her blade.

"Ruby," she began, "what need was there to modify your weapon, wasn't it fine?"

The girl in question shook her head furiously, before doing some small stretches in her armor. "I learned the hard way against the Manreaper that my scythe was next to useless against its chitin plates."

"Chitin?" Yang wondered out loud. This confused her to no end, so she decided to push for clarification. "Uhhh, Rubes? Grimm plates aren't chitin, they're b-

"It wasn't Grimm, actually." Ruby stated quickly. After getting quizzical looks from her teammates, she then decided to further clarify. "This beast didn't match any known types of Grimm, even ones marked as extinct. Carolus called it a 'Carnifex,' but it's easy to mistake for a Grimm, what with this one being black and white... though Carolus stated he's killed a Carnifex before, he didn't specify what exactly they are."

"Woah... so... you fought something that hasn't been identified? So an... alien?" Yang questioned.

"Carolus calls them "Xenos", andI guess so. All I know, that thing was an absolute monster. It was nearly as tall as this dormitory, Carolus said that those things can easily kill a Space Marine. The fact that I came out of that at all astonishes me. Normally, I'd call it luck, but Carolus dismissed that, said that luck is no factor in such a fight. Guess that just means I can kill a thing that can kill a Space Marine... though I don't think I could replicate the results presented." Ruby stated, "In any case, with the blade of my scythe, it couldn't cut through the beast's lighter frontal chitin over its squishy parts, so I had to... improvise."

"How so?"

"Well, there were explosives in the cave. A lot of them. Ancient, far older than anything I've ever seen..." Ruby said, running her hand over one of her fresh scars. "It was a whole stockpile. I could not kill the creature, and I was already badly wounded... so, as a sort of last ditch effort, I shot the bombs."

 **"YOU DID WHAT?!."** Her team screamed at her, their shock at her rash and extreme action showing through.

"I said I shot the bombs, what about that is so hard to understand? I thought that if I couldn't kill it and walk away, I'd at least take it down with me... only thing is I just so happened to not die." She explained, rolling her shoulder a few times before continuing. "The explosions brought the cave down on top of both myself and the Carnifex, and I survived... so did the Carnifex, but it was in no state to fight back. After a lot of effort, I managed to remove its head to bring it back to Carolus."

"That must have taken guts." Said Blake, somewhat calmer about the matter. She definitely wasn't thrilled about her leader receiving training from that racist bastard, Carolus, especially considering it seemed she'd be following in his footsteps... but she couldn't deny that Ruby had quite possibly the most impressive kill on Remnant in the last hundred years. "I doubt I could have brought myself to do such a... well, such an action."

Ruby simply nodded in response, before snapping on her helm. The silver lenses burning intensely before her teammates as they lit up. Blake silently gulped, as the intensity of the helm was so similar to the Space Marine's. Weiss felt some unease, the mask of her leader's helm unnerving her somewhat. Yang, however, was oblivious to her other teammates internal feelings as she simply smiled giddily. To her, her little sister was finally starting to spread her wings, so to speak, so how could she not be happy?

It wasn't a minute later before they heard a heavy knock on their door. Yang went to answer the door, expecting to see Cardin demanding a rematch... again.

She was instead surprised to open the door to a very large, yet now familiar figure... though the man still unnerved her to no end.

"Oh! Uhh, ah, mi'l-"

 **"My apprentice. Where is she?"** Carolus asked, completely blowing off the blonde before him.

"Master? You've come here?" Ruby called from behind the door. Yang opened the door to reveal to him his apprentice standing proudly in her full armor. He briskly scrutinized her appearance, making sure nothing was even slightly out of place. After a few seconds, he'd concluded that she was properly outfitted, and waved her along to follow him out.

 **"Come, apprentice."** He said calmly, his voice once more sending chills down WBY's spines. **"There is much work to be done today."**

* * *

She didn't dare admit or show it in front of him, but she was completely exhausted. He'd set a pace that would have been challenging enough for any normal man in good physical condition when running with her, and normally, it wouldn't have been any challenge for her... however, this was not any normal circumstance. Here she was, running up a mountain with a steep incline in armor that weighed more than she did, following a man in much heavier armor who just so happened to be taking this incline like it were nothing. Sweat was shooting down her skin like bullets, and everywhere her body ached, her arms and legs felt as though they were made of lead as she moved to match her master's pace. She knew he was aware, but he himself had told her that on the walk out the dormitory that he would not slow down for her. Either she matched the pace demanded for the duration demanded, or she failed.

 **"Keep this pace, Apprentice. We've only five more kilometers to the resting point."** Carolus spoke nonchalantly down to her. He was quite aware that this training g was taking a serious toll on her spirits, that it wouldn't take much to make her break... maybe by the end of the week, if she were truly strong. But that was the point, he'd break the girl down and build her up stronger than ever. It was the task of turning an otherwise ordinary girl- well, by this world's standards, and turning her into a warrior fit for bearing a chaplain's badge of office.

For another five kilometers, they ran up the mountains, crossing through loose gravel, slippery mud, ankle-deep puddles, and the worst in Ruby's opinion, dried out river beds. Her legs ached like never before, her aura long since broken from trying to sustain this pace. At this point, the only thing letting her keep pace was sheer willpower and determination. Now, finally they'd reached the top, and before them stood a whole range of mountains, their bases covered in fog and their peaks coated thick with snow. It was a beautiful sight, one Ruby decided to remember through a picture...

 **"Beautiful, is it not?"** Carolus said beside her. **"Atop this peak, the one we stand upon, there should be a shrine to honor the Emperor, I think."**

Ruby nodded, though she did not fully understand. This 'Emperor' guy, whoever he was, had not yet been explained to her so she wasn't too sure what to think about him. Sure, throughout their run he'd spoken of his glory and whatnot, but he never really explained much, no glorious deeds spoken of.

Still, she could see why such a man were to be revered. The sole, true leader of a galaxy spanning empire of humans facing down innumerable foes? Such a being was not one to be trifled with.

Looking back up to her master, she saw him resting his Crozius's head in the snow, his hands resting on the end of the shaft. It was still early in the morning, only being about 8:30, and she'd yet to eat. After the ten kilometer run uphill, she decided to plop down in the snow to catch her breath.

Carolus looked over to Ruby without much concern, expecting this to happen. Reaching back, he thumbed a button on his belt and pulled out a paste for the girl. It was tasteless, but packed full of everything needed for peak performance and recovery, and it was standard for most Astartes chapters. He tossed the tube of paste down onto the girl's chest before looking back to the scene before him...

She was taken somewhat off guard by the sudden drop onto her breastplate, looking up to notice something simply labeled "nutritional paste." She hastily scrambled to pick herself up and unscrewed the cap on the tube of paste before greedily sucking down the tasteless paste. With how hungry she was, she didn't even care that there seemed to be no taste whatsoever.

Within minutes, she felt profoundly more rejuvenated. Looking back up to her master, she'd noticed him nodding for her to get up. She swiftly followed his instructions before snapping her helmet back on and looking out towards where Carolus was looking...

 **"There's a few strange lights down there."** Carolus said plainly, pointing with his left hand towards where he was pointing. The fog where he pointed seemed to be a little purple, showing that some light tinted said color might be being shined down there.

"I'm not sure if that's normal... should I go check it out?" Ruby asked, curious herself about it.

 **"Not alone. Grab hold of my arm, I've a more efficient way of getting there."** Ruby hesitantly grabbed onto his arm, gripping tightly as soon as she'd heard some quiet noises, like energy being fed into a powerful generator. Not a moment later, she saw herself and Carolus engulfed in a bright light.

It was seemingly instantaneous, with a flash of light and the crack of lightning they stood before the purple fog. It was darker than she'd originally thought up close, ominously so, and an unnatural cold crept up on them. Ruby scanned over the fog with immense scrutiny, only breaking her focus slightly at her master's voice.

 **"Weapons out, ready your stance. We're going into the fog, beware of an ambush."** She immediately followed his orders, deploying _Crescent Rose_ into its scythe form. She advanced at Carolus's slowed down, more cautious pace, looking back and forth in an attempt to spot any hostiles. He had _Deathsong_ deployed alongside _Worldsplitter_ , sweeping over the area with the former to meet any attack from his flank.

Carolus's senses were far superior to his apprentice's, so he was keeping his ears open as well as his eyes. He knew he heard something through the fog, though he couldn't quite identify it quite yet. But it was metallic, and, despite the fog interfering with his scanners somewhat, he was scanning rather high energy readings from one of the sources. It wasn't quite like that of a normal electric generator, it was more like one of a plasma gun...

Realizing at the last moment the subtle hum of the plasma gun over charging, he quickly yelled out an order whilst diving for cover.

 **"PLASMA GUN, MOVE!"** He roared at his apprentice, who followed suit with his actions. The blast of plasma flew past him, boiling the paint on some of his armor and exploding near his apprentice on a rock. She screamed as plasma blasted across her side, wreaking havoc on her armor and totally destroying her aura. She fell to the ground clutching her side, groaning loudly through grit teeth.

 **"Apprentice, what is he severity of your wounds?"** Carolus asked, though was cut off with the roar of bolter fire.

 _Chaos Space Marines... sounds like there's auto guns too, but I don't hear anything deadlier than a plasma gun._

"I'm... fine! What the heck was that?" Ruby replied and asked frantically.

 **"Plasma gun. I hear bolters and auto guns as well. I'm going to close the distance with them, follow my lead as soon as you hear the telltale signs of melee combat."** He said, getting a nod from the girl. With the trajectory the charged shot had, he was immediately able to pinpoint the location of the plasma gunner.

Dashing out from his cover, he was pleased to see another charged shot only blast apart a tree adjacent to him as stray bolts slammed against his armor to no effect. It took a few moments to close the distance as he looses blind snapshots into the fog towards the plasma gunner, grinning under his mask as he heard the bolts find their marks against ceramite plates and the sound of a heavy object slumping against the ground. He'd finally gotten there, swinging his Crozius down. It was accompanied by a heavy crunch as the traitor marine's head gave way under his mace. A group of cultists shot at him with auto guns and pistols, but were cut off by a red blur slamming into them and swinging a large, heavy scythe in a wide arc aimed towards their abdomens. Several were cut clean in half and a few were disemboweled, clutching their open guts as they fell to the floor. More cultists rushed her with crude swords, knives and maces, and she faced them down seemingly without fear.

Himself, he was occupying himself with the Chaos Space Marines, blasting one in the face here and slamming his crozius into a breastplate there. The melee carried on for about five minutes, ending with Carolus's armor damaged from attacks from the traitors, and Ruby having a knife stabbed into her side. Though her aura was unable to protect her, her armor had stopped numerous would-be fatal blows. She released a pained sigh, removing the crude, rusty knife from her side and applying tome antibiotics and disinfectant to it before stitching the wound.

Carolus looked down at her before speaking back up, deciding that this training was enough for the day. **"Well, I had plans for the day to last longer, but I think this is enough for now. Follow me, we'll be walking back to Beacon."**

The walk back was uneventful, mainly consisting of Carolus explaining what had just happened. Ruby had taken the plasma gun for examination, though her master allowed it, he stated that under no circumstances could she use the weapon. He did not want to chance the weapon being daemonically possessed and the effects that would have should she utilize the weapon.

It took a few hours, but they managed to arrive before noon. The rest of training today would consist of her being taught High gothic, and learning more history of the Imperium. Though for now, there was twenty minutes before lunch, and Ruby wanted to be ahead of the clock. He supposed it would not hurt to accompany his apprentice to the messhall so that she might get an early meal.

They, after getting the food Carolus had requisitioned, both sat at a one of the tables, in Carolus's case, squatting down. Ruby had noted that despite the lack of sweets, the meal was very good, consisting of Pork chops, steamed cucumber slices, rice, mashed potatoes and gravy, a large biscuit, and some tea to finish it off.

"I didn't know the meals I would be getting would get larger." She commented idly as she saw other students trickle in, her team included.

"I hope you didn't expect it would get smaller." Carolus replied in his deep voice, his helm clipped to his belt as he ate. "You're a warrior in a more elite, strenuous training than anyone else here, not to mention you saw actual combat today."

"Yeah... but... did we have to... y'know... kill them? There must have been some other way..." she wondered, her voice taking on a somber tone.

"Steel your emotions and let not the deaths of traitors bother you. When facing the minions of Chaos, no action is without consequence, and it always ends in one side dead. Whether that side will be yours or your enemy's is in your hands." Carolus said swiftly, cutting her off before she could try to come up with a counter argument. "If you wish to survive, you'll need to get accustomed to killing your foes. They won't shed a tear killing you."

She nodded, understanding his grim words. She'd come to him for this training, and he was sharing with her his wisdom. It was only natural that she should take his words to heart.

Breaking the foul mood, her team and JNPR had arrived, taking their seats beside him or next to Ruby.

"Heya Rubes!" Yang called to her, slinging her arm around her shoulders. "So, how was training today?"

"Well... I certainly can't say it was pleasant... getting shot at and stabbed wasn't fun." Ruby chirped back, happy to see her sister and friends again, though wincing at her sister touching where she'd stitched herself.

"Oh, sorry about that... but you saw combat? This early?"

"It wasn't planned..." Carolus interrupted, "but it served as a good lesson to her, I think. She even took away a souvenir from one of the corpses we left in our wake."

"Waaaait... corpses?" Blake cut in, slightly unsure of their situation.

"Yes..." Ruby cut in, deciding this she herself should explain. "We were ambushed by enemies from Carolus's world... at least we think they were from that world, and they tried to kill us. We killed them, every single one of them..." Ruby said, her hands trembling when remembering the all the blood, all the killing. Steeling herself, she continued, "one of the foes Carolus killed had this weapon, a "plasma gun." I plan to reverse engineer it, as its far more advanced than anything we have." She looked back to the Chaplain, getting a curt nod in approval. However, Blake only gave her a somewhat disgusted look, as though she couldn't believe what Ruby had done, and Yang only brought Ruby into a tight hug.

Carolus's glare snapped Blake out of judging his apprentice, and returned her to quietly eating her food. Weiss was rather indifferent, and JNPR didn't quite know what to think. Yang was somewhat in disbelief that her sister could even take a life, other than Grimm.

They spent the rest of the time in relative silence, occasionally broken by Nora talking about sloths or something like that. To Ruby, the silence was uncomfortable, unnatural, and unnerving. She'd finished her food quickly, as the environment had become quite uncomfortable for her, and quickly left.

* * *

The rest of he day seemed to breeze by quickly, High gothic had proven difficult for her to learn and they'd only scratched the very surface of the Imperium's history. Still, much was learned, and Carolus had proven to be quite an effective teacher. The Imperium was still a very interesting thing to her, even if he'd only skimmed the surface for the bare bones thus far... even then, it took roughly two whole hours just to get all that out of the way, and until dinner time, she'd spent the day in Carolus's massive chambers, learning the higher language of his people.

He told her that he'd have her study imperial texts in the language, and analyze the craft and structure. On Wednesday and Thursday, she'd be training physically in the mornings, and like this in the afternoon. Her hours of study were now much more than her friends' on these days, as hers actually ended thirty minutes after eight. Nevertheless, this was the path she'd chosen, and she, despite being tired and beaten, didn't regret it one bit... not even the killing, even if she wished it could have ended peacefully.

Finally, with her training finished, she was allowed to her dorm. She knew that Blake would be confronting her about today. She was not blind nor was she dumb, she saw how Blake had looked at her and what that meant... but she'd had time to think and come up with an idea on how to rebuke whatever argument that Blake was going to bring to the fore.

It was only about 9:22 when she'd returned to her dorm, as dinner had taken priority before turning in for the night. As expected, there was Blake, waiting outside the door, looking at her expectantly. She eyed Ruby with a judgmental gaze, looking her up and down and eventually shifting her gaze to the plasma gun strapped to her back.

"You were busy today." Blake started, a disgusted tone in her voice. "Never thought you'd stoop so low as to kill an opponent." She spat. Ruby was quite ready for this, and immediately began her rebuttal.

"Oh, so then you must tell me, you'd just stand there and LET them kill you, wouldn't you?" Her statement seemed to take her amber-eyed friend off guard. "It wasn't some petty assault by thugs or criminals, Blake, it was a full blown ambush set up by people who wanted us dead. Did I kill some of them? Yes, I did, and I wish it hadn't come to that... but I will not waste tears on the deaths of people who meant to kill me."

"But you could have incapacitated them! Brought them-"

"BUT, there is no but, and you were not there! Were you in my place at the time, you'd have done no different!" Ruby growled back, quickly getting fed up with this annoying conversation after such a long day. "Now tell me this, is there something you're willing to die for?"

"What?" Blake asked, the question catching her completely off guard.

"You heard my question, Blake... please, just answer it." Ruby stated, her tone softened.

"Y-yes... there is..."

"Then you should be willing to kill for that, too. That's one of the first things Carolus taught me today... So please, Blake..."

Blake was struck silent by that, unsure of how to respond. On one hand, she thought that murder was far from the only way... on the other hand, she wasn't there, she couldn't have known the actual severity of the situation.

"I'm... going to forgive this. But please, Ruby, please don't ever resort to killing unless it's absolutely necessary, okay? I don't want you becoming like- well... becoming like an old friend of mine." Blake responded somberly.

"Don't worry, Blake. I'll never claim a life unless such a situation rises again." Ruby said, standing firmly before her teammate. After a nod shared between the two, they headed into the room, met by the uncaring cold shoulder of Weiss and a big hug to Ruby from her sister. It was, once again, not noticed profoundly thanks to her armor.

It didn't take a minute for Ruby to fall asleep once she hit her bed, and she'd be damned if she didn't say it was the best sleep she'd ever gotten.


	6. A Good Strike

**A/N: sorry if this is a bit short or lesser, entire thing done on phone during a car ride.**

* * *

She was woken by a rough shake by her shoulder, and initially thought that it must've been Weiss or her sister, up to bother her about whatever. She shook off the initial attempt, but quickly capitulated when she felt a harsh slap across her face. She realised that she wasn't dealing with a teammate, rather a much more intimidating figure they'd recently come to follow who happened to have access to their dorm. Quickly, and trying to not seem panicked, Ruby scrambled to her feet and stood at attention to her master, who seemingly managed to get into their dorm unnoticed. It was midnight, so she couldn't bring herself to understand why he'd be waking her up so early.

"Master… I haven't done anything wrong, h-have I?" Ruby stammered out quietly, but Carolus did not say a word, merely gesturing for her to follow. She held onto him as he teleported out of the room, a much quieter woosh sounding out compared to the crack of lightning she'd heard earlier. She'd question how he'd done that later, but currently, she just wanted to know what she was wanted for, and out of her armor, too.

He'd led her to the edge of the forest, before picking up a mace from a rack he'd set up and handed it to the girl. She looked up in slight confusion to her master, only seeing him nod towards another figure in the shadows. She stood ready, the mace held in, what she believed, was a good stance.

"Your form is sloppy, loosen up a bit, hold the mace a bit higher." The figure stated, before quietly stepping out of the shadows to greet Ruby. It was Cardin Winchester, the schools' already most infamous freshman bully. Ruby groaned in slight frustration, annoyed to see this boy here waiting for them.

 **"Rose."** Carolus stated, catching his apprentice's attention easily. **"Cardin** **mainly utilizes a Mace, the very same weapon you wield now and the same class of weapon you'll be using should you complete this training."** Ruby nodded, slowly connecting the dots. As much as she may dislike the boy, he knew how to use his weapon, if to a basic degree. **"He is… amatuer, but he'll serve as a good sparring partner, and can show you the basics of using the weapon."**

"Have I only been brought out here to learn basics?" Ruby tested, slightly offended that she'd be paired up with a fighter that was merely amatuer.

 **"Patience, Apprentice. You cannot learn the advanced forms until you've mastered the basics. He'll merely be acting as an assistant for the time being, while I deal with more… delicate matters."** The Chaplain stated bluntly. She felt the need to push for details, but she also knew that she was in no position to question him on such… not yet, at least.

 **"Winchester."** he called out, successfully grasping the boy's attention. **"You'll teach her the basics until breakfast. However, if I find her understanding lacking come 4:30 this afternoon, there will be consequences for both of you, am I clear?"** The boy nodded calmly, seeming rather indifferent to the whole affair, though Ruby frantically nodded, fearing that Cardin's failure might have repercussions on her. After the Space Marine was sure his point was through, he'd swiftly stalked off back towards the school, the CCT tower specifically.

Once Cardin was sure the man was out of earshot, he yawned and rested his mace on his shoulder. He looked Ruby up and down before rolling his eyes and cracking his knuckles on his free hand against his breastplate. "Okay, pipsqueak, I don't like you, and I know you don't like me… But that guy honestly scares the crap outta me." He said, spitting in the dirt at the end. "So, I really don't wanna see whatever the hell he has in store for us should we fail to meet his expectations or whatever, so try to keep up."

"Worry not about me." Ruby said, surprising herself with how similar her speech pattern was compared to her master's in that sentence. "Just don't fail as a teacher, whatever your punishment will be for failure, mine will be ten times worse."

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Let's just get this crap over with…" Cardin spat, annoyed by the younger girl's tone.

The morning dragged on for only a few more hours, but to Ruby, it felt like she was there an eternity. She'd learned the basics to the first three forms, simply named Form I, Form II, and Form III. The first was a defensive form, more focused on deflecting strikes, delivering parries, blocking attacks, and dodging them. The second was a much more offensive form, it was looser, more nimble, and relied on heavy blows, vicious counterattacks, and overall just straight out mauling an opponent. The third was a much more complex form compared to the first two, mixing elements from both to form a more versatile combative form, with the addition of some light punches and kicks focused more on disorienting an opponent than actually doing damage.

She didn't dare admit it, but using the mace was not easy. Being a one handed weapon, it was very different than using a polearm like her scythe. Hers was a flanged mace, similar to Cardin's own weapon of choice. They were both currently wearing steel training plates over their shoulders, upper body, and wrists, along with leather padding over their thighs and shins. They both adorned a similar steel training helm, the masks drawn over their faces for protection. This was it, after six and a half hours of training with the three forms, it was time for Ruby to test what she'd learned.

Word had apparently spread, and a small body of the student population had gathered to watch the fight, Ruby and Cardin's teams included with JNPR too. Her own and JNPR shared worried looks with each other and glances at her, the various other teams merely talking among themselves as they waited for the fight to begin…

"Alright, you've had your chance to train, now it's time to see what you've learned." Cardin stated, resting his mace on his shoulder. With his free hand, he reached down into his pocket and fished out the orders laid by the Space Marine. "These instructions state a brawl, no semblances or ranged weaponry, until either you lay unconscious, or my aura is depleted completely."

"Alright then, guess I better brace myself." Ruby said. Cardin should be going easier on her this first time, only using one form to fight and not switching in and out of different forms. She was would have to thank him later for that, seeing as he knew all 12 forms and she only knew the basics of the first three.

Doctor Oobleck stood off to the side, a gun loaded with a blank ready so as the signal the start of the match. Oobleck looked at Ruby with some slight sympathy, feeling sorry for the girl that this was the training she'd be experiencing so soon. He sighed, knowing there was nothing to be done about it. Ozpin had given Carolus tier III access, meaning that this Space Marine now held just as much authority as he did, if not more simply in the case of him being… well, a Space Marine. He was, however, fascinated by him. He'd never imagined he'd ever actually see a living Space Marine in person, much less one in terminator armor. But, shaking the thought away, the eccentric doctor gave a quick look around to take in the scene, before raising the gun into the air.

Yang growled, seeing her little sister pitted against that dick Cardin. Were it not Carolus setting the fight, she would have gone down there and knocked out his lights just for looking at her funny. But as it was, she knew first-hand just how powerful the man- er… Astartes was. Nevertheless, she was left with an uneasy feeling about this fight, especially since semblances were prohibited in this one. Ruby simply lacked the strength to compete, last she checked, and Cardin, despite being a fool, was a very strong fool even without his semblance. Only advantage her sister had in this fight was that she'd be harder to hit from an evasive standpoint…

The gun fired, and immediately the two assumed their stances, Cardin was in form I, Ruby form III. She swiftly analyzed his form, looking for an opening or something, anything she could use to gain an upper hand. After some swift analyzing, she'd determined he was focusing his guard on his right side, and came up with a plan.

Rushing forward, she swung high on Cardin's right side, swiftly feinting as he moved to block her attack and coming back around on his left. Her blow failed to land as Cardin shifted his defense and parried her attack, returning the strike with a hit from the back of his mace to her helm before kicking her away.

"Speed up your attacks, Rose. That was pathetically predictable." Cardin mocked, spinning his mace in one hand. Ruby grunted before fading back and delivering an overhead strike down on Cardin. The move was blocked, but she'd closed the distance now. While their maces were still locked, with her free hand she punched him in the face, disorienting him before grabbing hold of his armor, and throwing him behind her. He'd managed to catch himself, but not before Ruby managed to deliver a heavy blow to his left shoulder pad.

His aura took a hit, albeit not a game-changer, being knocked down from 100% to 87% on his aura levels. He snorted, honestly caught off guard by her play. It seems she wasn't totally incompetent with a mace. He resumed his defensive stance, waiting for her to make the next move. It came shortly enough, an attempted uppercut trying to knock him off balance. Sidestepping the attack, he spun about around the attack, knocking her off balance with a bash to the side of her head with the back of his mace, and finishing his attack by spinning himself back around, slamming his mace into her face.

Ruby was sent back a few feet, dazed and somewhat confused from the Blows she'd taken. That strike was devastating, having knocked her aura down a significant amount from 100% to 36%. That was not a mistake she wished to make again, and decided to commit that lesson to memory. She analyzed the situation before her, and after some momentary decision making she decided it'd be best to keep the offensive.

She lowered into a lower stance, before making a mad dash back towards the older boy. He swung in a wide arch in an attempt to hit her, not expecting her to roll under the attack and catch him in the back of his knee with her mace. He was brought down to a knee, only a moment later she struck him in the back of the head with her mace, forcing him to catch himself from falling face first in the dirt, ending by spinning herself and using the momentum to deliver a heavy upward strike on Cardin's head. The blow knocked him onto his back, which Ruby tried to capitalize on, but was kicked off of him. The combo of strikes lowered him by at least 50%, lowering him to 37%.

"Hah, not bad… lucky, but not bad." Cardin said, spinning his mace. He guessed it should have been expected that she'd pick up on this combat type quickly, after all, she was in two years early.

He decided he'd take the offensive for a moment, if only to mix up the situation. Taking a large step forward, Ruby expected him to swing from his right, so she put her guard appropriately. Unfortunately, his plan was somewhat different, tucking his arm in tightly and driving the back of his mace into her face. She fell back, dazed, before having the wind knocked out of her by a knee being driven into her gut.

Ruby doubled over, the air being knocked out of her, before taking another hit to her head and sending her falling back into the dirt. Her aura was now gone, reduced to zero, but it was very clear she was to fight until either his was broken, or she was knocked out. She was bleeding, a small cut made into the side of her head from one of the flanges on his mace. She was dizzy, and pretty sure she'd been concussed from the blow. Grunting she forced herself forward, swinging down on Cardin, only being blocked and kicked back in the process.

She barely caught herself, but it was too little, too late, as by the time she'd regained her composure, the last thing she registered, was her opponent swinging hard to the left, before everything went white.

* * *

Yang watched as the final blow was struck, sending her unconscious sister reeling out of the ring. It was very difficult to watch, but her sister had performed much better than she'd anticipated. Rushing to Ruby's side, she started to push some of her own aura into her little sister to heal injuries and make sure there was no permanent damage done. After she heard Ruby groan, barely awake, she sighed in relief. Gesturing for her friends to come forward and help, they began removing her armor and getting her on her feet.

"Not bad, Rose." Cardin said, shouldering his mace. Yang looked up at him with an unamused glare, though Ruby herself just merely nodded. "You'll probably wanna learn how to properly use heavy armor as well, but I'm gonna assume your mentor already gots that underway. I'll go ahead and inform the teachers you're gonna be in the infirmary most the day." He finished, before dropping the extra heavy plates off and making his way towards their first class.

Looking back down at her sister, she decided that Ruby really didn't need to be on her feet after a blow like that, so picked her up in both arms. Nodding to Weiss and Blake, the they all headed towards the infirmary.

Unbeknownst to them all was the one figure watching from elsewhere, a simple camera to capture every moment for him. He pressed his fingers together and scrutinized every movement, their postures, how they went about attacking.

He was not amused. Her form was decent, if sloppy, and he wasn't necessarily a poor teacher of a mace for an amateur, but his apprentice he found to be even more lacking in upper body strength than he'd originally anticipated. He would need to remedy that if he wished to make her worthy of being part of the Chaplaincy.

He would not reprimand them for incompetence, he'd decided, instead deciding that he would merely leave it at that and focus training today on her upper body strength. Cardin he supposed he could reward for his assistance, perhaps put in a good word with a combat instructor or whatnot.

Pushing himself away from the small screen, he turned about 180 degrees in his chair and stared out at the city before him. It was plain, boring, and small to him. Yet he supposed there was some appeal to it, being the sky clear of polluted smog and the sea beyond the harbor the most free of pollution or trash. Nevertheless, it was pathetic that it held very little in the sense of defense. Were anyone with any actual tactical acumen were to wish to assault the city, they wouldn't have a difficult time given they have the numbers to actually assault it.

He grumbled to himself in idle disappointment, being thus far unimpressed with this world in every aspect, save his apprentice's first worthy kill. This world needed some true imperial influence to truly progress, and crush these measly "Grimm" things. Of course, this world was a very… delicate, situation, he knew. With tensions between these pathetic faunas and normal humans rising at an alarming rate, it wouldn't be long, he thought, before there might be a civil war, and despite knowing he'd relish the chance to slaughter these abhumans by the thousands, he knew that such would be a colossal waste of time, and the war would ultimately be pointless. Not mentioning the fact that it would make these Grimm even more difficult to rout, despite being the pathetic beasts they are.

The cost of human life to him was unacceptable for a situation with such a simple remedy. Despite his hatred for the mutant, he knew he could use said mutants to his advantage. There were easily enough of them to be used to wage a global crusade against the Grimm, given assistance from their human betters. Such a thought was pointless, however. These Faunas were very divided themselves, some wanting peaceful protest for "equality" and others wanting to gain respect from fear.

Growling, he turned back around and stood up from his chair. A Space Marine should not sit idle, he needed to kill something… or rather, some faunas.

* * *

Ozpin was surprised to find the Space Marine standing before him, his arms crossed and through his helm he could feel the Space Marine glaring at him. He pressed his fingers together in contemplation at the given request, being a difficult order to be able to give.

"So… you wish to destroy nearby White Fang terrorists, that is it?"

 **"The tolerance of these aberrations is an affront to the Emperor as it is… but these specific filthy bastards are terrorizing pure humans. I cannot stand by and let these heathens continue this."**

Ozpin ran his hands through his hair, knowing a slaughter of these terrorists could go either very poorly or could advance his goals further. A backlash from the public would be the last thing he needed right now, but these terrorists were getting more and more ambitious every week…

He sighed, before pressing down on a button and bringing up a holographic map of the city. He'd made his decision.

"I'm marking key White Fang hubs throughout the city. There are ten in total, and all of them must be totally wiped out… but keep in mind, this cannot reach the news, at least not for awhile. The current situation is tense as it is, so I want this done quietly." He said. The Space Marine nodded, before looking to the map more closely himself.

 **"I will depart come nightfall, shortly after I've finished with my apprentice. She shall accompany me."**

"Please don't do that."

 **"She's my apprentice, and this will be a good opportunity for her to become greater. She will accompany me. Now, aside from that, I want power cut off from those districts, and I want communication completely cut off at 2130. They will be silenced before they die."** The Marine said in finality, before turning about and stalking out the room. The elevator doors closed behind the Space Marine, ending the conversation properly. He pressed his fingers together once more before calling up Glynda to inform her of the situation.

Several hours had passed since he'd informed Glynda of the situation developed, and she was both mortified and glad. Glad that terrorists were being dealt with, mortified that he was taking his much younger apprentice with him to do it. While yes, she has already bloodied her blade, that situation was different. This one, they're the aggressors… sort of. They were attacking the attackers, so she supposed it could also be interpreted as defense, or as a counterattack?

It didn't matter. The Lord Chaplain willed it, and so it must be done. Despite being only tier III access, it was very clear that he held almost as much power as Ozpin himself. So she went along with it, procuring the necessary resources for his "hunt" tonight. Much blood would be spilled tonight, some by Ruby, most, she imagined, would be spilt by the Chaplain. She knew Ruby would not enjoy this hunt one bit, though she was also keenly aware that it was all going to Carolus's plan.

He was a cunning one, indeed.

Though, with all necessary resources acquired, and the control procured of the power grid through some, she would guess, less than legal means thanks to Ozpin's discrete control of the city, she sent the means of completing the operation to Carolus. She could only hope now that this doesn't totally destroy his apprentice's spirits.

Ruby did not mind the extra bed rest, after the intense training the day before and the further training she'd been subject to this morning. Though training after classes (that she was more than happy to miss) was largely just focused in the weight room, specifically upper body strength. It wasn't really unexpected, he'd informed her that he himself was ashamed of her abysmally minuscule strength in that department.

It wasn't as bad as she was expecting it to be, though she was surprised when she was informed that he required her to meet him by the landing pads at exactly 20:00 sharp. She wasn't sure what he had planned, but something told her she would not like it. A premonition, if one would. Tonight, she just knew, there would be blood.

* * *

It was 20:00 precisely when she arrived at the landing pads, being met by her mentor and a small weapon crate. He gestured towards the crate, signaling for her to take equipment within the crate. There was a completely black body glove, some black metal plates, a black, metallic fiber cloak, a completely black mask with no markings, a sort of black cover for her weapon, some grenades, a handgun, a knife, and two suppressors.

 **"Get changed swiftly, apprentice."** Carolus said quietly, raising Deathsong. **"We're going on a little hunting trip tonight."**


End file.
